Comments on: Apollo astronaut to talk about moon landing

By: Sue Smith

Sue Smith — Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:57:23 +0000

Phillip, as great as Mr. Herrington is, he’s not the first Native American astronaut.
NASA astronaut Bill Pogue is.

By: Philip Havice

Philip Havice — Sat, 21 Mar 2009 16:26:46 +0000

<. Great …all Astronauts are ” National Treasures ”

Texas State also needs to get John Herrington to come and speak, First Native American Astronaut !

By: Brad Rollins

Brad Rollins — Fri, 13 Mar 2009 03:10:47 +0000

It still amazes me, decades after the last American on the moon, the majesty of it all — truly one of the greatest triumphs of humanity. I’ll be at this lecture with bells on my heels.

By: Joel Raupe

Joel Raupe — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:17:12 +0000

Sorry, I meant “Brad,” Mr. Rollins, not Mark Hendricks. TSNS has it’s own problem. Excuse me. (Oops)

By: Joel Raupe

Joel Raupe — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 16:15:44 +0000

Mark, you may want to change your headline. General Duke was lunar module pilot, and explored the northern reaches of the Descartes Formation with John Young, on Apollo 16.

He was also the first man to talk with another person on the Moon, when he acknowledged Dr. Armstrong’s confirmation that “the Eagle has landed,” with..

“Roger, copy you down Eagle. You gotta bunch of guys about to turn blue, we’re breathing again.”

He has to have been among the most cheerful people among the Apollo moonwalkers. He and Dr. Schmitt on Apollo 17 were clearly the most delighted of the astronauts to be on the Moon, if you don’t count Pete Conrad of Apollo 12.

The Descartes Formation, and the landing site between North Ray and South Ray craters are very easy to locate through a telescope, and I would ask him, if I could be there, if he still holds any interest in the Descartes swirl and the value placed on the Apollo 16 samples still setting the standard for scientists like the Japanese controllers of the Kaguya (SELENE 1) probe.

I envy you, if you are going. He’s a national treasure.