Word: nasa
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Dates: during 1960-1969
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Unlike the Navy and Army bosses, the Air Force Secretary should ideally be a specialist, firmly grounded in the intricacies of engineering technology. In NASA's former Deputy Administrator Robert C. Seamans Jr., Laird has a skilled executive with firsthand knowledge of the multi-billion-dollar Air Force projects that range from the newest supersonic planes to the manned orbiting laboratory. Before leaving NASA a year ago and returning to a teaching position at M.I.T., he was responsible for everything from budget planning to maintenance of the worldwide system of tracking stations...
...whisked along a heroes' route that took them to the White House, an appearance before Congress, a ticker-tape parade in Manhattan, a reception at the United Nations and a state dinner hosted by New York Governor Nelson Rockefeller. And even before the glow from Apollo 8 subsided, NASA named Astronauts Michael Collins, 38, Neil Armstrong, 38, and Edwin Aldrin, 37, as the crew of what could be an even more historic flight: the Apollo 11 mission, which may well land the first men on the moon...
...White House ceremony, President Johnson hailed the Apollo 8 astronauts as "history's boldest explorers" and awarded NASA's Distinguished Service Medal to each man. Then the astronauts gave the President an award. "Jim Lovell has a picture of the ranch I think you would like to have," said Borman. Lovell stepped forward with a color picture of the barren lunar landscape below a blue and white earth...
There, a crowd of more than 3,000 and dozens of banners and placards awaited their 2:12 a.m. arrival. "Good ride, Skypokes" and "Welcome home, Buck Rogers, Flash Gordon and Captain Kirk," read the banners. As the crowd roared, the astronauts were greeted by NASA's Robert Gilruth, by their wives and by most of the astronaut corps. Spectators pushed through police lines to touch the sleeves of the astronauts' blue flight coveralls, to shake their hands and to ask for autographs. Astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders were clearly moved by the heroes...
Taking a break only on New Year's Day, the astronauts met daily in the Manned Spacecraft Center with NASA officials and scientists to review every detail of their trip to the moon, referring frequently to the 400-page flight plan and the 1,000-page transcript of radioed conversations between the spacecraft and earth. After completing their debriefing, they will travel to Washington this week for a press conference in the State Department auditorium. On the following day, they will be guests of honor in a New York City ticker-tape parade up Broadway and a state dinner...