December 1968, Christmas Eve and Apollo 8

My father died in 2015 or a few Decembers ago.  I always remember him on certain anniversaries, such as Apollo 8.

On Christmas Eve 1968, our family went to the midnight mass.  By the way, very few parishes actually celebrate mass at midnight.  Our church today celebrates mass at 9 p.m.!

Nevertheless, it was a rather remarkable ride from church. It took me a while to realize that I was hearing three men reading from the Good Book from a spaceship circling the moon. It was one of those moments that I will never forget.    

Years ago, families actually sat around to watch the NASA missions. In our household, it was a lot of fun to gather around the TV and enjoy an Apollo rocket going into space.  My favorite part was hearing my father say that he would have never believed it when he was growing up.  My mother would usually compliment the U.S., with the Cuban version of “what a country”.

The Apollo 8 mission accomplished some rather big objectives, such as orbiting the moon 10 times and testing out the “trans-lunar injection” system and other electronic networks that would allow future missions to land on the moon over the next three years. 

The Apollo 8 crew was Frank Borman, the aforementioned James Lovell, and William Anders.

They became the first humans to see the far side of the Moon.   I recall my father talking about all of those science-fiction comic books about the unknown on the dark side of the moon.

Who wasn’t stunned to see that picture of the earth floating is space on the cover of the weekly magazines? It certainly put living in our good earth in a little different perspective.

Last but not least, the crew read from Genesis to everyone back home.

It’s a shame that my sons never watched those space launching in school.  Who knows when we will send men to another world again? I was fortunate to see it!

 P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

1986: Bill Buckner, great player but a bad moment in game 6

On this day in 1986, the Boston Red Sox were one out away from winning the World Series.     

And then the unthinkable happened when a routine ground ball went between Bill Buckner's legs.   

It was a case of very bad luck for a great player like Buckner.   

Bill Buckner hit .289 with 2,715 hits and a .408 on-base average.   In other words, there was a lot more to his career than missing that ground ball in game 6 of the 1986 World Series.  

He was a tough out, a great competitor and the kind of guy that you wanted on your team.  

Tough day for a great major league player.

  

 P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos. If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

---

Astros 1986: Mike Scott clinched NL West with a no-hitter

--------------
On this day in 1986, I was in the car and listening to the Astros play the Giants.    It turned out to be a great top of the 9th to catch on the radio.   Mike Scott clinched the NL West by throwing a no-hitter against the Giants.

The 1986 Astros were indeed a great team and played a super exciting NLCS against the Mets.  Game 6 was a classic.

Mike Scott won 88 games over a 5-year span in Houston.   He retired with 124 wins but will always be remembered for that magical afternoon!

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

1959: "Face of a Fugitive" with Fred MacMurray

Do you always think of "My 3 sons" when you see Fred MacMurray?   Well, I do.   By the way, where is Uncle Charlie?

Before that famous TV show, MacMurray made many movies, including "Face of a fugitive" in 1959.

This is from TCM:   

One night, when a train stops at a small Western town, a deputy sheriff ushers convicted bank robber Jim Larson aboard, on his way to serve a prison term. At the train's next stop, Jim overpowers the deputy and is about to escape when his younger brother Danny unexpectedly appears with two horses. As the brothers ride off, the deputy shoots at Danny, badly wounding him, and Danny fires back, hitting the lawman. 

The story is good and worth watching.   

You can click here to watch it.

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.

A terrible day, but the right man was in the Oval Office

(My new American Thinker post)

We think of President Reagan as “the great communicator.”  Indeed, he communicated conservative ideas better than anyone. Many of his speeches were memorable, from “the evil empire” to “tear down this wall.”  His 1980 speech accepting the GOP nomination in Detroit was fabulous, especially now that you can watch it again and again.

However, his best speech wasn’t political at all.  It happened on the day that he spoke to the nation about the terrible Challenger explosion on January 28, 1986 or 37 years ago today.

As you may remember, most of the country fell in love with Christa McAuliffe, a teacher going into space.  Also watching that morning were her family and millions of students all over.  It was one of those moments where everyone was cheering the same way.  It was awesome.  Happy moment.  How often do you get those?

The story had a bad ending.  The Challenger exploded 73 seconds after takeoff and a wonderful morning turned into a nightmare.

Around that time, I was driving to a lunch and listening to everything on the radio.  I heard the takeoff and the first word of an explosion. I walked into the restaurant and everyone was watching the television. It was one of those moments when nothing else mattered, including lunch.  

Later, President Reagan spoke to the nation about the tragedy, and especially to the children who had seen their teacher blown up in space. Suddenly, you realize why it matters to have a president who can speak from the heart:

And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle’s takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It’s all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It’s all part of taking a chance and expanding man’s horizons. The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we’ll continue to follow them.

It was a wonderful speech and you should watch it in full. It was an awful day but we had a man in the Oval Office who could bring us together. 

P.S.  Check out my blog for posts, podcasts and videos.

---

1986: The Challenger and President Reagan’s greatest speech

We think of President Reagan as “the great communicator.” Indeed, he communicated conservative ideas better than anyone. Many of his speeches were memorable, from “the evil empire” to “tear down this wall”.  However, his best speech wasn’t political at all.  

it happened on the day that he spoke to the nation about the terrible Challenger explosion of 1986.   As you may remember, most of the country fell in love with Christa McAuliffe, a teacher going into space.  

Also watching that morning were her family and millions of students all over.   It was one of those moments where everyone was cheering the same way.  It was awesome.  

The story had a bad ending.  The Challenger exploded 73 seconds after take off and a wonderful morning turned into a nightmare.

Around that time, I driving to a business lunch and listening to everything on the radio.  I heard the takeoff and the first word of an explosion. I walked into the restaurant and everyone was watching the television. It was one of those moments when nothing else mattered, including lunch.  

Later, President Reagan spoke to the nation about the tragedy, and specially to the children who had seen their teacher blown up in space. Suddenly, you realize why it matters to have a president who can can speak from the heart:

And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle’s takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It’s all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It’s all part of taking a chance and expanding man’s horizons. The future doesn’t belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we’ll continue to follow them.

It was a wonderful speech and you should watch it in full. It was an awful day but we had a man in the Oval Office who could bring us together.  

P.S.  You can listen to my show.  If you like our posts, please look for ”Donate” on the right column of the blog page.