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[i]When I was in college, I took a speech course and nearly flunked it. One thing I remember from that (course) was when you give a speech, you tell them what you're going to tell them, then you tell them, and then you tell them what you told them. {Laughter} We've already gone through the first part, and then the middle part, so I'm going to tell you what has already been said. Some here will remember the height of the Cold War. Many of you will not. It was a very dangerous time. Thousands of ballistic missiles pointed at each other, armed with nuclear warheads. Created by the two super powers--the ultimate in brinksmanship. A secondary competition between the same opponents developed. A race; a race for pre-eminence in space. And it attracted many with a big risk, big game mentality. Some of us came from the world of flight research, testing the new aircraft configurations, control systems and flight techniques. Typically our standard protocol was to take relatively small advances into unknown areas so we could encounter and prevent situations from which we could not recover. So there was step by step. When a new young president, Jack Kennedy--trying to find a way to compete with the Soviets in space--asked the still young space agency, NASA, how it might be possible to beat them at something, anything, NASA answered: Nothing less than a manned flight to the surface of the Moon. And that could not be certain. Well, the president decided to go with it. A manned landing on the lunar surface and a safe return to Earth by the end of the decade. The public agreed, Congress agreed and ultimately the space race was on. After gigantic booster rockets and new spacecraft had been designed and built, (along with) enormous assembly buildings, launch towers, radars, a communication system that could go the lunar distance, after all that was done, the first Apollo crew sat in their Apollo 1 spacecraft during a simulated countdown test and tragedy stuck. Fire broke out in the cabin. The crew was trapped inside, and three of our friends and colleagues perished. Their backups, Wally, Walt and Donn would be their replacement. They had been completely prepared to fly the original Apollo command module if it had been required. Now that craft would never fly, nor would one with its shortcomings ever be allowed to fly. The spacecraft went through a major redesign that required a year and a half. But the new spacecraft when completed not only had eliminated the fire problem, but had been given time and incorporated needed changes in many other systems. The crew immersed themselves in the redesign and the development of the procedures of the new flying machine, the Block 2 command module. They were intimately involved in the testing of its systems, which always seemed to take place at 3 o'clock in the morning. It was now the autumn of 1968, the United States was committed to reaching the surface of the Moon by the end of the decade and we hadn't flown yet. In order to have any chance of meeting the deadline, each successive flight would be obliged to take the largest possible jumps. One step at a time would not do the job. But with any new flying machine, the biggest jump of all is the first flight. Among test pilots that first flight is the big one. The one when any design flaw and overlooked consequence is likely to reveal itself and cause major problems. The crew is spring loaded to observe, to identify, to diagnose and to suggest corrective action for any unexpected abnormality. But while a well-executed flight is exciting and the proof of good work, it is those many months of design, development and pre-flight preparation that are part of the crew's responsibilities and are their actual principal contribution to the project. All those flights that followed were dependent on the Apollo 7 crew doing their job, a great job. And they delivered. They delivered in the design, in the development, in the testing and in flight--making it possible for the eventual Apollo goals to be achieved by the end of the decade. Thanks Walt, and Wally and Donn.[/i]
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