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**Jeff Findley[_2_]** · August 29th 12, 02:00 PM posted to sci.space.policy,sci.space.history

In article , says...

Hg wrote:
Stepping out of the spotlight... I'm not sure the reasons for that,

I think he expected he'd be okay with the fame but when it actually
happened he disliked it worse than Lindberg had. Some situations can be
imagined and mentally simulated before they happen. Some can't. When
your'e good at running such mental simulations, as all test pilots must
be, you'll figure you can pull it off in other fields. But when he was
actually a celebrity he clearly didn't like it. So he stayed private.
He earned it as far as I'm concerned. He didn't step on the Moon by
winning a lottery. He earned it the hard way.

He served his country well, he just didn't want to do it "in the
spotlight". He was always a very private man.

Look at how Buzz has done. He's (or was) a jet setting celebrity
doing all sorts of beneficial tasks. The world's a better place
for how Buzz uses (used) the celebrity he ended up enjoying.

Buzz has a personality which actively seeks out the spotlight, which is
about all I have to say about him in this thread.

though he did return to the spotlight whenever he was needed, being
part of the investigation panels for Apollo 13 and Challenger, for
example.

Exactly. When his celebrity could make a large difference in the space
program, he used it that way very deliberately for what he thought was
the good of the program.

I'd say that he used his experience as a test pilot, astronaut, and
engineer to serve his country in that capacity, despite the fact that it
put him temporarily back in the spotlight (something he did not desire).
I'd call that quite admirable.

Plus, it's not like he ever completely stopped contributing to society.
He was a professor at University of Cincinnati, served on both the
Apollo 13 and Challenger accident investigation boards, and served on
the boards of directors of several companies (Wikipedia says Marathon
Oil, Learjet, Cinergy (Cincinnati Gas & Electric Company), Taft
Broadcasting, United Airlines, Eaton Corporation, AIL Systems and
Thiokol).

If you look at what he accomplished before becoming an astronaut, his
life would still be quite impressive. He was an Eagle Scout, earned a
B.S. in Aerospace engineering from Purdue University, was a Navy pilot
who flew combat missions during the Korean War, and was a test pilot
flying historic vehicles including the X-1B and X-15. He was also
selected as one of six pilot-engineers who would have flown the X-20
Dyna-Soar, had it not been canceled. Despite the Dyna-Soar program
being canceled, he did fly the F5D Skylancer, NASA 802, simulating abort
procedures for Dyna-Soar.

Jeff
--
"the perennial claim that hypersonic airbreathing propulsion would
magically make space launch cheaper is nonsense -- LOX is much cheaper
than advanced airbreathing engines, and so are the tanks to put it in
and the extra thrust to carry it." - Henry Spencer