"That's One Small Step For Man..." Blogged by N8

Last week, Chaplain S. came into my office and informed me that we were expecting a Distinguished Visitor trip up in one of the wards that he works in. These are a normal occurence around here, so I casually asked, "Who is it sir?" He grinned at me and said, "A few astronauts. Neil Armstrong, Jim Lovell, and Gene Cernan." I almost fell out of my chair! So, I stayed late after work and hung out in his ward for almost two hours, but it was definitely worth the wait!

They all came as part of the "Legends of Aerospace Tour" which has a total of six famous people in aerospace. First and foremost was Neil Armstrong. Of course we all know who he is. He is the guy that every kid in the world wants to be at one time or another. He was the first person to walk on the moon.



Next was Jim Lovell. He is famous for his line, "Houston, we have a problem..." That's right, the man that Tom Hanks played in the movie Apollo 13 was there as well!



Also with them was Gene Cernan. He was the last person to leave his footprints on the moon. This happened on December 14th, 1972.



They also had a few people that are famous for flying jets as well. One was Steve Ritchie. He is the only USAF "Ace" fighter pilot since the Korean War. He is an "Ace" because he had 5 MiG-21 kills between May to August of 1972.



Another pilot was Robert J. Gilliland. He was the first pilot to fly the SR-71 Blackbird. He has logged more time above Mach 2 and Mach 3 than anyone else.



Their moderator was David Hartman. He was the original host of "Good Morning America" from 1975 to 1987. He is a retired Air Force officer and is an Aviation and Space writer.



They all came through pretty rushed, so I was only able to take a few pictures that weren't blurry.

This is Gene Cernan. Jim Lovell is in the background.



This is Jim Lovell and Neil Armstrong.



The whole thing was really rushed and I wasn't able to get a whole lot of pictures, but there was an Air Force Colonel there that saw me waiting patiently to get a picture with Neil Armstrong, so he held up the group while I got a picture with him and Jim Lovell while they were walking down the hall. Thanks Sir!!!