 |
| NASA Freebies |
After touring the runway area, the tour bus stopped outside
NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center.
Our group was led inside to a briefing room, where we were shown a
fifteen-minute video summarizing some of the facility’s past and present
projects. These covered various types of
manned and unmanned aircraft, spacecraft, and systems that could be utilized in
either type of craft, or on the ground.
(I particularly liked the flying drone powered by solar panels and tiny
wind-driven propellers). We were also
given calendars showcasing spectacular photography from space, and copies of
their newsletters. One of the latter told
of Nichelle Nichols’ recent visit to the Dryden, where she told the employees
how her portrayal of Lieutenant Uhura on “Star Trek” had inspired Martin Luther
King Jr. Although I had read the account
of her meeting with him in her autobiography Beyond Uhura: Star Trek and Other
Memories, it was nice to be reminded that she still promotes interest in space
exploration through her role in the 1960s TV show.
We still had an hour before Don, our tour guide, had told us
the bus would return, so we headed over to the cafeteria, where we had our
choice of purchasing burgers, sandwiches, pizza, and numerous other hot and
cold foods, as well as ice cream for dessert.
We shared the Chicken Tenders and French Fries basket, mostly for
sentimental reasons, as we do this every time we visit Kennedy Space Center in
Florida. Then we went outside to admire
more airplanes on display, including another large and sleek Lockheed SR-71
Blackbird (we had seen one outside the museum), and an HL-10, one of the heavy
lifting bodies NASA tested when it began investigating the space-plane concept,
which eventually led to the development of the space shuttle. Interestingly, the same rocket engine that
helped Chuck Yeager’s Bell X-1 break the sound barrier powered the HL-10.
When the bus arrived, all of us hopped on board, and Don
concluded our tour of the base by showing us how the active-duty military
personnel (and their families) who worked there lived. We rode through the housing communities for
enlisted personnel, and then the larger, upper-scale homes of the senior
officers. (All the houses had been rebuilt
in recent years, and as the number of base personnel had fallen from its high point, this left more real estate for other purposes). There were lots set aside for people to store
their RVs, and others where families could offer their car, or any other unwanted
items, for sale. The bus also took us
past their grocery store, fast-food restaurants like Burger King and Starbucks,
several small strip malls, and their schools.
Like the base itself, all the streets were named after military officers
who had made notable contributions to Edwards AFB.
Don pointed out that the junior high school was located at the
intersection of two aptly named streets: Love and Payne. Make of that what you will.
Before the bus dropped us off outside the base, Don, our
large, well-rounded tour guide, related one final anecdote. He said he was often asked if Chuck Yeager
still visited the base, and he said that, yes, he did, but not so frequently as
in the past. For a long time, he served
as a base consultant, and would stop by the base regularly, where he was still
allowed to test airplanes. Amazingly,
although he’s now eighty-nine years old, Yeager still makes the occasional
flight in a military jet. At one point,
Don was waiting in line in the cafeteria when who should get in line behind him
but the great man himself. Don knew that
Chuck Yeager always got asked the same questions, such as “What was it like to
break the sound barrier in the Bell X-1?”
He scoured his brain for a question that wouldn’t sound completely
stupid, might intrigue Yeager, and perhaps even promote a long and interesting
discussion. Ultimately, the best he
could come up with was, “So, are you buying lunch?”
Chuck Yeager looked at Don’s large frame and ample
belly. “Not the way you eat,” he said.
Of all the people on the bus, I think Don laughed the loudest.
Many thanks to the people who helped schedule our tour, who
checked us in, our guide Don, our bus driver, all the helpful staff in museum,
at Dryden, those who made our lunch in the cafeteria, and everyone else who
made our day special. Many thanks also
to Edwards Air Force Base for offering these interesting tours. Now, if only you would have let us bring our
cameras with us…
Dragon Dave
Related Dragon Cache entries
Understanding Kimi Raikkonen: Part 6 (includes a summary of
Chuck Yeager’s record-breaking flight)
No comments:
Post a Comment