Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Early Morning Breakfast With The Man !!!

It was launch day on complex 34 Cape Kennedy FL. The year was 1968, the time was something near 3 am. As I drove by the cape dining facility on the way to work I thought why not get breakfast as this could be a very long day.The place was packed as expected but I was lucky as a table opened up just as I started looking.

I had unloaded my tray and just sat down when a voice said "may I join you.?" Without looking up I said "sure have a seat"..As the person sat down we came eye to eye..It was Wernher Von Braun,mastermind of the space program. Trying not to fall completely apart we exchanged pleasantries, We chatted about Huntsville,AL as he lived there and I had worked there in the early 60s.  Finished eating I stood and shook hands with him and said it was great to meet him, and off to work I went.Thinking back neither one of mentioned the launch.

My station was on the first floor of the blockhouse monitoring several banks of meters and recorders. It was well away from the glamors area of the second floor where all the big wigs were. As luck would have it there was a problem with one of our recorders in one of the second floor consoles. I was at the end of the isle thus was chosen to fix the problem.

Up the stairs I went walked over to the console and lo and behold it was my breakfast partner.

















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