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Old January 28th 17, 12:31 AM posted to sci.space.history
Stuf4
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Default Debbie Reynolds and Space History

From David Spain:
On 1/13/2017 5:06 PM, Jeff Findley wrote:
Since Debbie Reynolds died a couple of weeks ago, I have not seen
anyone talking about her connection with space history.

I personally have no idea what you're talking about. Please enlighten
us.

She starred in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" on Broadway. The play was
the inspiration for Gus Grissom calling Gemini 3 Molly Brown.


I forgot about that. Pretty thin connection though. Because of what
happened to his Mercury capsule, the name "The Unsinkable Molly Brown"
didn't go over very well with the people in charge of publicity within
NASA. It just served to remind the public that his Mercury capsule was
still at the bottom of the ocean.


The thesis that Debbie Reynolds played a significant role in space
history outside of her performing in "The Unsinkable Molly Brown" just
does not hold water.

FWIW the popular 60's musical is about the irascible survivor of the
Titanic's maiden voyage, the nouveau riche Ms. Molly Brown.


This forum has been amazingly consistent in a lack of open-minded thinking. Without even hearing the thesis, it is rejected outright.

Today marks the 50th anniversary of the tragedy that Frank Borman attributed to a 'failure of imagination'.

Here is the Wikipedia article on this subject:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Failur...of_imagination

It mentions Apollo 1, the Titanic, and Pearl Harbor. I see all three of those events to be connected. And I maintain that the incendiary death of Gus's crew is inextricably tied to Debbie Reynolds.

That event happened 50 years ago this very minute.

~ CT