The First Moon Walk ~ by Lori Roberts

     It’s hard to believe that in July, the first moon walk will be 50 years old. I was six years old in 1969, and I don’t remember watching the historic walk. We had been to a church picnic that day, and I was tuckered out by the time the astronauts made the touch down.
     Even though I fell asleep before Neil Armstrong took those famous steps on the moon, I’ve always been interested in the space program. I grew up in southern Indiana, about forty minutes from the home of a pioneer of the space program.
     

I grew up knowing about Virgil “Gus” Grissom. He was born and raised in Mitchell, Indiana. His biography is impressive prior to coming to NASA. He served in both WW2 and the Korean War. He graduated from Purdue University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I didn’t realize he was famous when we visited the small museum containing the small Liberty Bell spaceship at Spring Mill State Park, in Mitchell. As a child, we visited often, and I remember how tiny the spaceship seemed to a 4th grader.

      Over the years, I came to know more about the space program and the bravery those early astronauts displayed during the early days of the space program. Grissom was selected to command the first manned mission of what would become known as Apollo 1. Unfortunately, Grissom and the rest of his crew, Ed White and Roger Chaffee, never made it into space. They died on January 27, 1967, in a fire during a pre-flight test at the NASA Space Center in Cape Kennedy (now Cape Canaveral), Florida. Grissom left behind a wife and two children.

     

In the late nineties, my ex-husband was transferred to CraneNaval Support Center, and we moved to Bedford, IN. Mitchell and Bedford are in the same county, less than 5 miles apart. Driving into Lawrence County from all directions, one is greeted with a large sign: “Welcome to Lawrence County, home of astronauts Grissom, Bowersox, and Walker. Yes, that’s correct, three astronauts all from the same small southern Indiana county.

     Our county is proud of the accomplishments of these men, and their families are still part of the community. I’ve had the grandchildren of Mr. Walker in my class at school.

     As authors, we may never make the best-selling author list, or make a tidy sum in royalties and sales, but we are leaving a legacy to our children and grandchildren. When someone checks out my books in the library or purchases them at a signing, I’m living my dream, just like Gus Grissom, Kenny Bowersox, and Charlie Walker.