OH+Interview

Oral History Interview

**Interview subject** - Marry Damron (my grandmother)
 * Topic ** - The Space Program


 * What did you think of Truman's bold statement that the United States would have put a man on the moon by the end of the 60's? Did you think this feat was achievable?

People really couldn't believe it, it was just way out of reach, and too fetched. I remember my physics teacher in high school had said that there was no way we could ever achieve the velocity that was needed to get into space. We were a little further along since then and moving in the right direction but it seemed that we would have to move a lot faster than we were in order to get there by the end of the 60's.

Do you know what the general public or the people in your area thought about Truman's promise? He said they would do it at any cost, did people think it was worth any cost or that the money would be better off spent elsewhere.

I myself thought it was necessary, the topic was very interesting to me. But some people did not necessarily think it was worth it, they thought going into space was pointless. As time went on however people got more and more caught up into it, everyone were waiting and waiting for the next flight to go up. It was the next frontier waiting to be explored and most everybody was very enthusiastic about it once it started, it was amazing.

What do you remember hearing about the Soviet Satellite Sputnik? What was the distinct reaction from the public?

We felt like we were being beat but we were racing pretty hard, and after the first second or third mission we felt like we were ahead of them. The Soviets did get there first but NASA was much more successful in the long term.

What was it like to witness the failure of the first U.S. attempt to launch a satellite? Did it change you're opinion of Truman's promise?

It did not really hinder my believes I was enthusiastic all the way through. I knew you couldn't always get it right on your first try and there is always room for error, this was something completely foreign and new to us.

What do you remember of the Mercury Program? What did it feel like when you heard that the first American man, Alan Shepard, had been into space?

I would have been about 32 years old in 1959 when they announced the first 7 astronauts for project Mercury. I don't think astronaut was even a word at that point in time, when the first 7 were selected people didn't even know what an astronaut was or what they would de doing. The Mercury missions were one man missions they flew in capsules that where not much bigger than they themselves where. One astronaut said that he didn't get into the capsule, but he put it on. Shepard was the first American astronaut to go into space, he went straight up for about 15 minutes, then returned to Earth and landed in the ocean. It was May 5th 1961 and we where in the car driving down to Florida for a vacation and we heard it on the radio and it was probably one of the most thrilling things you could imagine. You read science fiction novels, all these things you thought could never ever happen and now they truly were. It was the most exciting time in my life in terms of news worthy things, we grew up thinking that this stuff could never ever happen and here it was happening. The second man who went up almost drowned when he came back down and landed in the ocean, one of the hatches that wasn't supposed to open until he wanted it to opened in the water. The third Mercury mission was with John Glen lasted four and a half hours, he orbited the Earth 3 times. Coming back down his capsule almost burnt up, he said it felt like a fireball in there. Truman gave all the returning astronauts ticker tape parade and they were treated as heroes for almost a whole year.

What was you're reaction to the fire that broke out during the testing of an Apollo spacecraft that killed three astronauts inside? Was it covered a lot in the media?

It was horrible one of the men had just nearly avoided drowning when he came back down just years prior. All these men went into it knowing the danger but it was so important to them that they were willing to risk their lives for it. It was amazing that they didn't have more casualties than they did with all this dangerous stuff. If you are going to take risks there is not going to be a 100% success rate.

Did you watch Neal Armstrong walk onto the moon and say "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind."? What where you thinking as it happened?

It was like living through a science fiction movie, something that could never happen was happening. It was a very very very exciting time, we could watch the whole thing on television! We were actually able to see it happening. There couldn't have hardly been anybody who wasn't excited on that day.

What was the media coverage of the program like? From Mercury to Apollo, was it in the news a lot?

With each flight there were so many things that could go wrong you were just glued to the radio or television. It all came from Walter Cronkite he would follow everything that went on all day long, they would tell all the different things that were happening. I saved all of the headlines from all the newspapers as they came out I actuelly just got rid of them a while ago when I moved. **