to Dr. Rendezvous, Wally Shirra. Astronaut of the Murcury, Gemini and Apollo space programs.
Growing up in the 50's and 60's I was very interested in the space program. Caught the bug with the X-15 project. I watched every televised launch and broadcast through the Murcury, Gemini and Apollo programs.
One of the proudest moments of my life was in a Celestial Mechanics lab in a Physics course in college when unbeknownst to us we solved the rendezvous problem that Shirra solved. He did it in orbit in a Gemini space craft with pencil and paper and was the making or breaking point of future travel to the Moon. We did it with pen and paper in the comfort of a college class room. The moment I realized what we had just calculated and the significance of it to space travel made me very proud of myself. Although looking back now several decades later it was pretty trivial for me to do that in a class room. Dr. Rendezvous did it where it really counts and under extreme pressure. A tremendous accomplishment for Humanity.
I am very sad to see his passing but proud and happy to have been alive during his time with us.
Later,
KayBay
