[rollei_list] Re: Rolleiflex and NASA
- From: Allen Zak <azak@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 6 Apr 2010 20:23:36 -0400
On Apr 6, 2010, at 4:01 PM, Laurence Cuffe wrote:
David Sadowski said>
By the time Johnson became president in November 1963, there had been
several manned US missions into space and JFK had already pledged the
US would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade.
Wasn't it one of the astronauts who took matters into his own hands
and bought a 'Blad in a camera store, then took it on a space flight
with him?
---
1) John Glenn brought his own Minolta Hi-Matic with him on his first
flight.
2) The most successful space program the world has ever seen was
government funded.
3) Most successful exploration missions are government funded, for
example Mr Columbus's sea trip. Previous privately funded efforts by
types with names like Lief etc. were not as effective in getting the
word out.
All the best
Laurence Cuffe
What I heard was that the Minolta had been given to the program by a
clever promoter for Minolta, whether company or distributer unknown.
It had to have been specially modified for the purpose so Glen could
operate it while suited up and helmeted. This was the story going
around around the Lewis Research Center, a NASA facility near
Cleveland, Ohio, where I happened to have been employed at the time.
Of course, that doesn't mean any of us had greater access to the fact
of the matter. Work was suspended a few hours on the day of the earth
orbit so everyone could listen to the exchanges between Glenn and
ground control.
Decades later, when the astronaut was running for US Senate reelection
in Ohio, I was assigned by an endorsing organization to take a few
campaign photos of the senator, posed with his wife Annie in
Cleveland's Central Market, with my mother as a model portraying
"Concerned Citizen." The Glenns were very gracious and patiently
allowed themselves to be directed. This whole episode was hysterically
funny to Mom, who would never have voted for a Democrat, a view she
politely kept to herself on this occasion.
Over years I have had casual contact with Glenn many times, but always
neglected to ask him about the Minolta. It is not impossible that in
the future, I might be at the same event with him where I can make a
point of at last settling this most important matter.
Allen Zak
---
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