December 20, 2024 • 30 mins
Jerry Scott is the COO of the Lone Star Flight Museum & Director of flight operations. He introduces us to Barbara Radnofsky and Ed Supkis who are the authors of “The Astronaut, the Barber and the Golf Ball” which looks into the msytery of the third golf ball that the legendary Alan Shepard took to moon. He did it for his friend Carlos – or did he? It’s an awesome NASA story full of insight into the Houston community that built NASA. Barbara and Ed are speaking at the museum on January 16th: www.lonestarflight.org
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
Welcome to Houston, PA, Houston's public Affairs show, an iHeartMedia broadcast.
Our disclaimer says that the opinions expressed on this show
do not necessarily reflect those held by this radio station,
its management staff, for any of its advertisers. My name
is Laurent I am the Texan from France and I've
been a flight sim geek since the late eighties when
(00:29):
my father brought home an old work computer nobody wanted
and it was just it just ignited a passion for
flight simulators. And one of the first things I did
when I moved to the US in the early nineties
is to go visit the Lone Star Flight Museum, which
at the time was on Galveston Island, and it was
really kind of a ramshackle shack. It's a misnomer. It
(00:49):
wasn't a ramshackle, but it was a hangar with planes
in it and you would pay a small fee and
you would go up close and if they weren't looking,
you could touch the planes. They had drip pans under
the planes because they are working plans that are old
and of course they don't make any of these parts anymore.
So if you want to have to fix them. You
(01:09):
have to mill new parts, you have to order from
manufacturers who will literally handmake a particular knob or whatever
it is that you need. And they're all constantly leaking,
and it's kind of like the Battleship Texas that's constantly sinking.
They have to pump the water out of it all
the time. But it's worth it because it reminds us
of the genius that we've shown throughout our evolution. And
(01:31):
the Lone Star Flight Museum has since transformed itself. It
has moved to Ellington Field. If you've never been to
Ellington Field, they also do a fantastic air show there
every year. And since the Lone Star Flat Museum has
moved to Ellington Field, it has turned into a high
tech destination. You can sit into one of the most
sophisticated flight simulators available in the world right now. This
(01:53):
thing is on a gimbal, it moves, and they have
a permanent collection of magnificent planes throughout our history of aviation,
which is not very long. It's barely one hundred years old, right,
I mean. And they've turned into an educational organization that
is well worth the visit. Just an awesome place check
it out online lone starflight dot org. Lone starflight dot org.
(02:16):
They have a t rex at the Museum of Natural Science,
and that's pretty cool. But when you walk into a
room of old planes, including the Corsair with its V wings,
and that's just a different level. Jerry Scott is their COO.
He is the COO of the lone Star Flight Museum
and he's also their director of flight Operations because indeed
(02:37):
you can fly in some of these old birds. That's
one of the services that they offer if you have
someone who admires these planes. Best Christmas present ever. Just
an amazing experience to have to get into one of
these old war birds or any of the planes that
they fly, and you get in, you have a pilot
whose passionate is going to tell you a lot about
(02:58):
the experience because they can't stop talking about it. Have
you ever met a pilot? And then you take the
kids with and they can look at all the cool
stuff they have, all these activities that are particularly enticing
to children. And Jerry brought along two authors, the authors
of The Barber, the Astronaut, and the golf Ball. Barbara
(03:21):
Radnofsky is the author of the Barber, The Astronaut and
the golf Ball and Ed Supkiss is Barbara's husband and
the co author of The Barber, The Astronaut and the
golf Ball. You can get the book anywhere that they
sell books, you know, get it on Amazon whatever. Do
y'all have an audio book? I haven't asked that question.
Yes you do, so there's an audiobook. Fantastic, But I
(03:43):
want to first talk to Jerry the change between what
it was like on Galveston Island and what you have
now in Allington Field. To say nothing that it's a
working Air Force base. I don't think people realize that,
but NASA uses it and the Air Force uses its.
Houston is a special place, and it's a phone reminder
to think that when NASA decided where to place their headquarters,
(04:04):
they were looking for a city like Houston. There was
a major port that had major at least two major
universities and a huge medical center for the science research
because the medical well, what we get out of space
exploration is it's hard to overstate.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
You're absolutely right. Yeah, the products that we have yeay,
from computers and phones.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
And Wi Fi batteries, every pretty.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Much everything you touched. Yeah, much, and Ellington is one
of the most interesting airports in the country in my opinion.
Started well, if you recall ORV and Wilbur Wright did
their flight nineteen oh three. Ellington started in nineteen seventeen,
not that long after the first flight.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
And right was in North Carolina, right or Kitty Hawk
North Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, correct, And and you're correct that it was a
military base. It was solely a military base up until
the seventy about nineteen seventy or so, and which we
today we have the Coastguard, Texas Army Guard, the Marines
are there, there's a whole everybody, including NASA that you mentioned.
(05:08):
This is a home on NASA's flight operations. So this
is where the astronauts lived and trained and flew those
early aircraft from there. So all these stories of NASA
and Ellington is very consistent and very much the core
of their training in terms of flight. If you remember
the Bedstead it was called, they were practicing Neil Armstrong
(05:31):
practicing to land on the Moon, Well they practiced at
at Ellington and he actually had to punch out there.
That happened out on the ramp. So tremendous history there
at Ellington Field. We're really glad to be there. You're correct.
We start out in nineteen eighty nine to ninety in Galveston.
Everyting ike kind of encouraged us to be YEA and
(05:53):
so in twenty seventeen we moved to our current location.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
So at first it was really just a bunch of
apes and fans of old It was mechanics and just
it was a passion project, and the organization was formed
by an association of like minded people and it just
grew from there.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
You're correct with this footnote though, that the founder, Robert Waltrip,
was really the one that founded the whole thing, founder
of Service Corp International, and his first aircraft we still
have and fly, you know, fly tomorrow in fact, the
B twenty five really, so he was the early days,
(06:32):
was very much a part of the funding and the
motion and everything that went on with that. So it's
we do all rights, as you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah, and I want to get to that because that
that is in Houston's there's a lot of cool things
you can do, but this is way up there. We
should be honest with the audience. These old machines are
expensive to operate, so it's a it's a nice gift,
and I think that that's that's how I see it
as like man, I would birthday present a Christmas gift,
Or you're just a fan of aviation and you want
(07:04):
to do something for yourself, what planes can you choose from?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Well, we have the B twenty five. We have two
PT seventeen Steermans. We do have We don't stell rides
in it, but we fly at air shows in the
TBM Avenger, which is painted in George H. W. Bush's colors.
And we also have a PT nineteen built by Fairchild
and it's an amazing fun airplane.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Is the Avenger the one that he crashed in the
water at Pgima?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
So how do they find it? I'm kidding, I'm kidding, no,
but his story is extraordinary.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
You mentioned the facility in Galveston, and you correctly said
it was two hangars. The facility here much more of
a focus on education in our STEM based program, and
we've got a lot of it. It's just constantly continually
for children and for families, and I think the but
(07:54):
it's so fun for me, and I've been associated with
the museums for fifteen years now, nine what's so fun
for me? Is connecting with those people as well as
my passion for aviation and people that come through the
families and the stories they tell, either the individuals themselves
or their families, and it's really special to be able
(08:17):
to hear those stories and to watch them experience that.
And we're down the street from NASA, and.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
It's just that that is a great visit to do.
You can visit NASA and the Lone Star Flight Museum
in the same day. They also have simulators, and there
are some similarities between the two experiences, but there's nothing
like seeing those old birds if you're a fan of
aviation especially, it's just it really is something else. And
(08:47):
we were talking about this before we started recording. A
museum can be like a Rosetta stone. You never know
when a child walks in and it ignites their vocation,
their passion in life, not necessarily related to flying planes.
Maybe you want to be a mechanic, maybe you want
to program the simulators, maybe you want to be a
flight control. There's there's all these opportunities for young people
(09:08):
to find out Oh wait a minute, I didn't know
I was interested in this, and hey, I have an
act for it too, have an innate knack for it.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
We don't tell them that they're learning as they're going
through a lot of these anies.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
It's by accident.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
It is by accident. They're having fun and then wow, they've.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Learned something entertainment that is finest exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
And you made me think. I have a little friend
named Alan that comes to the museum. He's two and
a half years old and he asks to come to
the museum almost every week. So we see him two
three times a month coming through and he'll walk through
and just loves to see things. And so he's going
to be an engineer in my belief either and perhaps
(09:48):
a pilot.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
And you it's worth mentioning you have a youth program
that people can join. Young people can join in. How
young do you have to be.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
They're generally about twelve.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yeah, so teenagers basically.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Exactly, and they can be involved as much they want.
It's in our ambassador program and they work help work
with the simulators and as well as a lot of
the events with kids and the stop procket as I mentioned, well,
they'll be doing that and a lot of other things
that go on. So we have a we have a
fun time with the kids, and you know, yeah, and
(10:24):
some of them have been there for years and kind
of graduate from the program, if you will. So it's
a lot of fun to watch these young folks grow
up and have an interest, and we're there to want
to fuel that interest.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I've met a couple of them, had them on the show,
and I was really really impressed. I think that there's
probably a self selection going on. If you're interested in aviation,
you're probably a little more connected to educational facilities around you.
And so I understand that the young people who would
come and be a part of the program would be
self selecting, and that you're dealing with scream of the
(11:00):
crop type of material. But I was I mean, we're
talking about I'm at two very very well spoken young
men with the I mean, you could feel their passion
and at at twelve and fifteen, the knowledge they have
about aviation and astronomy is mind boggling. It's it's really
(11:22):
it's really extraordinary, and it's the kind of thing that'll
make you, it'll make you hopeful for the future. And
you can engage your children just by taking them to
the museum. Lone starflight dot org. Lone starflight dot Org
go see their Corsair. The F four U von Corsel
is the famous plane that has goal wings. It looks
like a w on the ground. One of the most actually,
(11:43):
it is the most beautiful prop plane ever built. As
far as I'm concerned, it's my favorite. I just I
grew up in France. We watched the Bob Bob Black Sheep,
the series about Pappy Boington. And by the way, Poppy
Bonington wrote an autobiography called Bob Bob Black Sheep, and
it's fantastic. It's well worth reading. The audiobook is fantastic,
and we should move to the books because we have
(12:05):
special guests here. You're listening to Houston, PA, Houston's Public
Affairs Show. My name is Laurent and my guests are
here from the lone Star Flight Museum. Barbara Radnofski is
the author of The Barber, The Astronaut, and the golf Ball,
and she's going to be speaking about her book at
an event on January sixteenth. You can get information on
(12:26):
that event at lone starflight dot org. With her is
her husband Ed Subkiss, who is the co author of
The Barber, The Astronaut, and the golf Ball, and Jerry
Scott is the COO of the Lone Star Flight Museum.
He's also their flight director. Barbara, I'm just going to
quick decide. You mentioned there were going to be some
(12:46):
stomp rockets at a family event, which is actually happening
a couple of days after you speak on the eighteenth
of January. Those stomp rockets really like the ones. They're
made with compressed air and water. Like I had as
a kid, a pouch that.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
The person will paunch and then it will launch the
rocket who knows where.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
So it's pneumatic. It's a pneumatic.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Rocket by the weight of the individual.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Barbara, tell us your book. First of all, it is
a picture. The cover is a picture of a golf
ball on the moon. It even has the cross of
the advisor for the camera, the barber, the astronaut, and
the golf ball. What on earth is this book about?
If you know a little few things about a Paula,
(13:36):
you know, somebody hit a golf ball in the moon,
which is probably one of the coolest thing any human
being has ever done.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
You're right, Alan Shepherd is the first and only person.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
That's right, only guy, So you are right.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
The book is about a time back in the nineteen
sixties and a place, the Man Spacecraft Center, built on
a cow pasture south of Houston, and two men, a
barber who's really the lead of the story, and an astronaut,
Alan Shepherd, the first American in space in the Mercury program,
(14:12):
who went on to be the only Mercury astronaut to
walk on the Moon as well. That's how long lived
was his career at NASA. And it's about two kids
in one of the greatest places there could be to
grow up. That would be Ed and me and our
dads were both NASA scientists, engineers and worked together. And
(14:34):
it's about the friendship between Carlos the barber and Alan Shepherd,
a lifelong, deep friendship, and what it brought back home
from the Moon to as a gift from Shepherd to Carlos.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
So Shepherd brought played the golf ball. I can't believe
he hit a golf ball.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
In the Moon.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
He played two golf balls. Okay, one of them was
a hole in one.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
It's still there, Sugar, Both of them are still there
because you can't bend over in a spacesuit to pick
them up. You can't even see where the balls are
when you hit them and you cannot see through your
visor where you've dropped the ball. So it was a
sand trap shot on number one, And it was a
(15:19):
sand trap difficult shot on number two. But that's the
one that flew, according to Shepherd, Miles and Miles, he
was a showman. It did not go to Miles and Miles.
But he hit it and it was good enough, and
he packed up and he went home after that, all
with the blessing of NASA and the preparation of NASA.
But was there a third ball?
Speaker 1 (15:42):
But and this is really interesting in his pocket?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Was was Shepherd the kind of man? Was he the
kind of genius in preparation who would actually keep a
third ball in reserve? Did he really believe that much
in redundancy the concept scientifically, one does not try to
rely just on one reserve. When you're a famous test
(16:06):
pilotte or not so famous test pilot, do you plan
to do everything you can before you leave the Earth's surface,
that your experiment in gravity and the effect of one
sixth gravity all approved by NASA? Would you get that
all done right and prepared beforehand? Would you bring an
extra golf ball?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Let's talk about what bringing an extra golf ball could
cause because we're literally talking about calculating. She's pointing towards Ed.
Who's going to take this question? Well, this is something
that you can learn from simulators. Again, there's a wonderful
game called Curball space program, one of the greatest games
of all time, one of those games that accidentally teaches
(16:46):
you about orbital mechanics, rocketry, and space travel. And if
you've played such simulators, you know that adding a single
pound to your spacecraft can cause it to never reach orbit.
One single pound, And the truth is that the values
can be a lot smaller. And that's what's interesting about
the story you're telling us. I don't know if the
audience realized it, but that golf ball theoretically at least
(17:09):
and isn't it true that theoretically it could cause some problems.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Theoretically yes, but practically no. Yeah, because the back back
in the sixties when this thing was developed, the program
they developed with side rolls, no computers, side rolls and
pencils and paper. Engineers would always error on the side
of the astronauts to make it safe.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
So a little more power, a little bit more power,
more fuel, right, a little bit more fuel, a little
bit more, weight, a little bit more, you know, the
center gravity could be off a little bit more, not like.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Some of these are planes that are being built today
that you have to be spot on on everything. But
Alan Sheppard went to NASSA and said, okay, I want
to do this golfing thing. That was before he practiced
in a spacesuit. In a spacesuit, you're pressurized, you can't
move your arms. You're like the Micheline man in a
big suit, and you can't see the ground.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
You look like the state of marshmallow Man. That's right, Yes, yes,
maybe something from Ghostbusters.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I don't know. Plus blinded in your visor, you can't can't,
you can't see, you can't move much.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
So we don't know this for sure, but I theorized
that Alan, after I figured out what was going to
be so difficult, he went to Deaccite and said, I
need another ball because golf balls coming package of three
and three to three times redundancies. They trained for three times.
You know, this was laid into the game, and you
add another ball to the manifest. You have to recalculate
the weight and balance for the whole spacecraft and for
(18:29):
the limb and back then there's no computer programs to
do this that we were talking about months of calculations
for something that's the size of a golf ball and
the weight of a golf ball. So you just said,
just putting your personal preference back. These astronauts are all
test pilots, and they're geared to push the machine to
its limits.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
But it is clear where the astronauts could put whatever
the heck they wanted as long as it was safe.
And our dads were part of the program to determine
what would be safe to be placed on the Moon
or travel at all in space. So it's it's a
great debate that's here. We don't try to tell you
definitively what happened. We cannot prove to a certainty that
(19:10):
this third ball actually flew when Shepherd gave it as
a gift.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
But what the book does is use this.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Story and this golf ball signed by Shepherd and given
to his best friend Carlos on his return from the
moon and after he left isolation. Did it fly is
the question? But as you'll see when you read the book,
it what really why.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Would Shepherd you his best friend? By the way, what's
Carlos's last name.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Carlos's last name is Via Gomez. As the Shepherd never
spoke of the gift that he gave to Carlos through
the end of his life, and Carlos never asked about
the gift. He came from isolation directly to Carlos's before
he met the press. He palmed it into his hand
(19:59):
like sometimes the aviators will do with a medal, and
he gave it to him and it said two Carlos
from Alan Shepherd and neither men. Neither men. Neither of
the men asked ever or talked about.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
It because it wasn't necessary. There's some things that men
don't need to tell each other. It's understood. I don't
need to read the book to know what the truth is.
I need to read the book to find out about
their relationship. Carlos owns and operates the beer garden, which
is still there, the beer garden and barberships here.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
It's a great burger in fact, La, I've had a
burger there recently and it was very very ood.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So I'm a fan. I'm a fan of that.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
We still meet there, we still.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Meet with.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
There, So tell me a little bit. I'm curious. What
does it mean to Carlos. I mean he to be
that connected to Actually, who are some of your best
friends through life? Alan Shepherd? What that one?
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, Carlos and most of the original seven astron all
the way through the current astronauts, and he is he
mourns with them when there are losses. There's a lot
of meetings that occur out in the beer garden and
barber shop, particularly on karaoke nights, and we've been there.
(21:17):
We have felt the connection to many decades of wonderful
NASA people, as well as the bankers, the bikers, the
oil field workers, everyone who shows up for Carlos and
the beer garden.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Yeah, your dad was involved in helping the Apollo thirteen
astronauts modify their orbit and get home.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (21:44):
My dad and Ed's dad worked together. My dad was
chief of Crew Systems at NASA, responsible for the interior
of the spacecraft and the safety elements, and Ed's dad
worked with him for many, many years. So Ed's got
the technical aspects of what our dads did down to
a fine, fine tooth. But yes, my dad was in the.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Room as they were jerry rigging the systems on the
film that's based on those people. Yes, sir, we forget that.
You know, the most of these people lived right around here.
It's there's a non zero chance are going to run
into one of these people, which is a reminder to
be nice to everyone. Ed, I hear. I understand that
you came in sort of to clean up the technical
(22:31):
aspects of the books of the book.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Is that right, Yes, Borrow wrote about ninety percent of
the book and then got felt ill and needed a
little bit of help to get finished, and I stepped in,
and you know, it's sort of like a cleanup batter
God taken care of.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yeah, but this this seems to be more about the people,
right and their relationship.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
It is to a great degree. But we had a
wonderful antagonist involved, a brilliant memorabilia expert, and the documentary
that we made, which will be premiered at the Flight
Museum that's.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Going to be on January sixteenth, corrector you're speaking at
this event as well.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
The documentary will be there in January eighteenth, is where
we're going to do stop rockets to the kid stem
science and talk about lunar golfing. They'll learn by doing that.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
It's such a funny story and the pictures are so funny.
And I'm also I don't want to talk about it
because I think it's silly, but I am eternally amused
by the theories, the silly theories that Stanley Kubrick faked
at the Apollo moon landings. That's just funny as heck
to me, it's really really funny. But it's worth mentioning
that if you go to the Lone Star Flight museums,
you're actually going to witness that history as it was
(23:44):
back then. Those old planes are all part of that
technology that eventually leads I mean, just for instance, the
rudimentry plus minus computers that the aviators used in those
old corsas for instance, were eventually evolved. They added transistors
and they have They built the computers at the the
Apollo astronauts used to guide their rockets. And I don't
(24:05):
know how many people realize that the phones in our
pockets are exponentially more powerful than those computers. It's not
even you're talking about a sewing machine comparatively speaking to
the cell phone.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
And well, and they were tasked with go solve a problem. Yeah,
and by doing that they developed a lot of technology
that was then handed over to industries and then and
then developed and you know, our lives are much better.
Oh yeah, in so many respects, with medicine, with technology,
(24:38):
with on and on and on because of things that
were developed. If I had the opportunity, and I'm not
going to ruin anything from the book, it's it's a
fun read. It's an easy read.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's brief, it's well, this is another
great Christmas.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Give so I won't ruin anything. But as Bart mentioned,
you know, Aber Shepherd had two golf balls. First one
he whiffed, couldn't see it, second one he connected with.
I always I would have loved to ask him. Was
that the reason for the third golf ball? If he
was with the second one also, and you know that
(25:11):
it was there as the safety. Yeah, because he connected
with the second one, it wasn't necessary. That's great.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
But the way he palms the golf ball, goes to
see his friend Carlos before meeting the press, all of
this suggests a conspiracy, like maybe they knew they were
going to do something like this. Of course I'm using
the word conspiracy dramatically.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
But the interesting, the interesting aspect is. The friendship was
so deep that neither man discussed it. The understanding between
them was such. This was something that was meaningful. And
Carlos had said, because he cuts Shepherd's hair right before
the night before he went into Isolation, and he said,
(25:54):
shep do something for me up there, write my name
in the lunar sand. And sheperd smiled and grinned, his
famous Shepherd grin. And when Shepherd came back, the first
thing he did was go visit with his wife, who
picked him up in their car, and they drove across
the street across from Nasa, from Isolation, and they went
(26:15):
to They went to Carlos and they shook hands, and
that's when he palmed the golf ball. All Shepherd said
was put this away in a safe place.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
That was it.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Post World War Two, he was policing for the Navy
as a Bosun's mate on a gunboat, delivering people from
Hanoi on the rivers of what is now Vietnam and
delivering them safely to the south. He also took frogmen.
There were no higher callings. They don't have the fancy
(26:48):
seal label. Back then. He would deliver frogmen in the
seas of China for their missions and make sure that
he was exactly in the right place when they came
back twenty four hours later.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
And not for nothing. But he was on a boat
that was sunk by an atomic bomb.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
That is correct.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
That's another like, that's a good else, dude. That's a
good story else, dude.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
And it only came up when I started asking Hi
about how come you're hearing so bad. This is our
dearest friend from childhood, and we were asking why is
your hearing so bad? And he said, well, you know,
it might have been the gun boat and all the
bullets pinging off, but I think it was the nuclear bomb.
And I said, oh, really, well, tell us about that
and he said, well, you know, I was volunteered to
(27:30):
go on a boat to see what would happen if
an atomic bombs dropped.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
So I did.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
I said what happened? He said, oh, spectacular, spectacular. We
had this huge spout went up hundreds of feet in
the air. I said, no, no, what happened to y'all?
And he said, well, the boat sunk.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Well, the boat sunk, you know. And he lives without
radiation sickness, thankfully.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
He is hearty and well that's awesome about ninety and
still is out there at the beer garden and barber shop.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
But how many people can tell these stories? What an
extraordinary life, and that's why we wrote the book. Yeah,
so check it out, folks. The Barber, the Astronaut, and
the golf Ball by Barbara Radnofski and ed Supkiss. As
always when it relates to Houston public affairs and any
of the subjects I have on the show, if you
need me to send you an emails or reminder, I'm
(28:25):
happy to send you a link to where you can
get the book. They've recorded an audiobook which is so awesome, Jerry,
you wanted to mention.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Yeah, in addition to lot of the historic aircraft, a
lot of the warbirds that we've talked about a little bit,
because we're so close to NASA, we have the NASA
CCT Crew Compartment Trainer CCT two that was used for
training that people can see. We also have the flight
similar that every Shuttle commander and pilot trained in from
(28:53):
STS one to STS one thirty five, the actual similar
line so on the gimbal.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Oh wow, that's so literally his technological history that you
can put you in the seat of these professionals.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Currently, we've got one of our exhibits is called from
Space to See, featuring artwork from the Navy as to
the influence that the Navy had with NASA. The machines
are phenomenal, but the people and the stories are really what,
in my opinion, makes so much that so special.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
And if you want to be impressed when you're there,
go find one of their youth ambassadors. They're often Dawson's
so they'll be walking around. You'll see a young person
with a museum t shirt on. Go say hi. Believe me,
you won't regret it. It'll give you hope for the future.
You know, we always talk about the millennials and all
the gen zs and they're gonna be fine. They're gonna
(29:44):
be fine. And then the Long Star Flight Museum is
proof of that. You just go, you go to a
place where your passion is encouraged and you're also encouraged
to push yourself and that's what you get. You just
get excellence, like the young man I met, wonderful place.
I want to say again too that on January sixteenth,
Barbara Radnofski and Ed Subkiss will be at an event
(30:05):
to promote the barber, the astronaut and the golf ball.
Go to lone starflight dot org. Lone starflight dot org.
And once again, as I said, just send me an email,
I'll send you the answer to the question you're asking.
Texan from France at gmail dot com. Texan from France
at gmail dot com, and I want to thank you
for listening and caring about the issues I put on
(30:26):
this show.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
My name is Laurent I am the Texan from France
and this has been Houston, PA, Houston's public affairs show,
Houston Strong
Welcome to Houston, PA, Houston's public Affairs show, an iHeartMedia broadcast.
Our disclaimer says that the opinions expressed on this show
do not necessarily reflect those held by this radio station,
its management staff, for any of its advertisers. My name
is Laurent I am the Texan from France and I've
been a flight sim geek since the late eighties when
(00:29):
my father brought home an old work computer nobody wanted
and it was just it just ignited a passion for
flight simulators. And one of the first things I did
when I moved to the US in the early nineties
is to go visit the Lone Star Flight Museum, which
at the time was on Galveston Island, and it was
really kind of a ramshackle shack. It's a misnomer. It
(00:49):
wasn't a ramshackle, but it was a hangar with planes
in it and you would pay a small fee and
you would go up close and if they weren't looking,
you could touch the planes. They had drip pans under
the planes because they are working plans that are old
and of course they don't make any of these parts anymore.
So if you want to have to fix them. You
(01:09):
have to mill new parts, you have to order from
manufacturers who will literally handmake a particular knob or whatever
it is that you need. And they're all constantly leaking,
and it's kind of like the Battleship Texas that's constantly sinking.
They have to pump the water out of it all
the time. But it's worth it because it reminds us
of the genius that we've shown throughout our evolution. And
(01:31):
the Lone Star Flight Museum has since transformed itself. It
has moved to Ellington Field. If you've never been to
Ellington Field, they also do a fantastic air show there
every year. And since the Lone Star Flat Museum has
moved to Ellington Field, it has turned into a high
tech destination. You can sit into one of the most
sophisticated flight simulators available in the world right now. This
(01:53):
thing is on a gimbal, it moves, and they have
a permanent collection of magnificent planes throughout our history of aviation,
which is not very long. It's barely one hundred years old, right,
I mean. And they've turned into an educational organization that
is well worth the visit. Just an awesome place check
it out online lone starflight dot org. Lone starflight dot org.
(02:16):
They have a t rex at the Museum of Natural Science,
and that's pretty cool. But when you walk into a
room of old planes, including the Corsair with its V wings,
and that's just a different level. Jerry Scott is their COO.
He is the COO of the lone Star Flight Museum
and he's also their director of flight Operations because indeed
(02:37):
you can fly in some of these old birds. That's
one of the services that they offer if you have
someone who admires these planes. Best Christmas present ever. Just
an amazing experience to have to get into one of
these old war birds or any of the planes that
they fly, and you get in, you have a pilot
whose passionate is going to tell you a lot about
(02:58):
the experience because they can't stop talking about it. Have
you ever met a pilot? And then you take the
kids with and they can look at all the cool
stuff they have, all these activities that are particularly enticing
to children. And Jerry brought along two authors, the authors
of The Barber, the Astronaut, and the golf Ball. Barbara
(03:21):
Radnofsky is the author of the Barber, The Astronaut and
the golf Ball and Ed Supkiss is Barbara's husband and
the co author of The Barber, The Astronaut and the
golf Ball. You can get the book anywhere that they
sell books, you know, get it on Amazon whatever. Do
y'all have an audio book? I haven't asked that question.
Yes you do, so there's an audiobook. Fantastic, But I
(03:43):
want to first talk to Jerry the change between what
it was like on Galveston Island and what you have
now in Allington Field. To say nothing that it's a
working Air Force base. I don't think people realize that,
but NASA uses it and the Air Force uses its.
Houston is a special place, and it's a phone reminder
to think that when NASA decided where to place their headquarters,
(04:04):
they were looking for a city like Houston. There was
a major port that had major at least two major
universities and a huge medical center for the science research
because the medical well, what we get out of space
exploration is it's hard to overstate.
Speaker 2 (04:19):
You're absolutely right. Yeah, the products that we have yeay,
from computers and phones.
Speaker 1 (04:24):
And Wi Fi batteries, every pretty.
Speaker 2 (04:26):
Much everything you touched. Yeah, much, and Ellington is one
of the most interesting airports in the country in my opinion.
Started well, if you recall ORV and Wilbur Wright did
their flight nineteen oh three. Ellington started in nineteen seventeen,
not that long after the first flight.
Speaker 1 (04:42):
And right was in North Carolina, right or Kitty Hawk
North Yeah.
Speaker 2 (04:46):
Yeah, correct, And and you're correct that it was a
military base. It was solely a military base up until
the seventy about nineteen seventy or so, and which we
today we have the Coastguard, Texas Army Guard, the Marines
are there, there's a whole everybody, including NASA that you mentioned.
(05:08):
This is a home on NASA's flight operations. So this
is where the astronauts lived and trained and flew those
early aircraft from there. So all these stories of NASA
and Ellington is very consistent and very much the core
of their training in terms of flight. If you remember
the Bedstead it was called, they were practicing Neil Armstrong
(05:31):
practicing to land on the Moon, Well they practiced at
at Ellington and he actually had to punch out there.
That happened out on the ramp. So tremendous history there
at Ellington Field. We're really glad to be there. You're correct.
We start out in nineteen eighty nine to ninety in Galveston.
Everyting ike kind of encouraged us to be YEA and
(05:53):
so in twenty seventeen we moved to our current location.
Speaker 1 (05:57):
So at first it was really just a bunch of
apes and fans of old It was mechanics and just
it was a passion project, and the organization was formed
by an association of like minded people and it just
grew from there.
Speaker 2 (06:11):
You're correct with this footnote though, that the founder, Robert Waltrip,
was really the one that founded the whole thing, founder
of Service Corp International, and his first aircraft we still
have and fly, you know, fly tomorrow in fact, the
B twenty five really, so he was the early days,
(06:32):
was very much a part of the funding and the
motion and everything that went on with that. So it's
we do all rights, as you mentioned.
Speaker 1 (06:43):
Yeah, and I want to get to that because that
that is in Houston's there's a lot of cool things
you can do, but this is way up there. We
should be honest with the audience. These old machines are
expensive to operate, so it's a it's a nice gift,
and I think that that's that's how I see it
as like man, I would birthday present a Christmas gift,
Or you're just a fan of aviation and you want
(07:04):
to do something for yourself, what planes can you choose from?
Speaker 2 (07:07):
Well, we have the B twenty five. We have two
PT seventeen Steermans. We do have We don't stell rides
in it, but we fly at air shows in the
TBM Avenger, which is painted in George H. W. Bush's colors.
And we also have a PT nineteen built by Fairchild
and it's an amazing fun airplane.
Speaker 1 (07:25):
Is the Avenger the one that he crashed in the
water at Pgima?
Speaker 2 (07:29):
Yeah?
Speaker 1 (07:29):
So how do they find it? I'm kidding, I'm kidding, no,
but his story is extraordinary.
Speaker 2 (07:34):
You mentioned the facility in Galveston, and you correctly said
it was two hangars. The facility here much more of
a focus on education in our STEM based program, and
we've got a lot of it. It's just constantly continually
for children and for families, and I think the but
(07:54):
it's so fun for me, and I've been associated with
the museums for fifteen years now, nine what's so fun
for me? Is connecting with those people as well as
my passion for aviation and people that come through the
families and the stories they tell, either the individuals themselves
or their families, and it's really special to be able
(08:17):
to hear those stories and to watch them experience that.
And we're down the street from NASA, and.
Speaker 1 (08:25):
It's just that that is a great visit to do.
You can visit NASA and the Lone Star Flight Museum
in the same day. They also have simulators, and there
are some similarities between the two experiences, but there's nothing
like seeing those old birds if you're a fan of
aviation especially, it's just it really is something else. And
(08:47):
we were talking about this before we started recording. A
museum can be like a Rosetta stone. You never know
when a child walks in and it ignites their vocation,
their passion in life, not necessarily related to flying planes.
Maybe you want to be a mechanic, maybe you want
to program the simulators, maybe you want to be a
flight control. There's there's all these opportunities for young people
(09:08):
to find out Oh wait a minute, I didn't know
I was interested in this, and hey, I have an
act for it too, have an innate knack for it.
Speaker 2 (09:15):
We don't tell them that they're learning as they're going
through a lot of these anies.
Speaker 1 (09:19):
It's by accident.
Speaker 2 (09:19):
It is by accident. They're having fun and then wow, they've.
Speaker 1 (09:22):
Learned something entertainment that is finest exactly.
Speaker 2 (09:26):
And you made me think. I have a little friend
named Alan that comes to the museum. He's two and
a half years old and he asks to come to
the museum almost every week. So we see him two
three times a month coming through and he'll walk through
and just loves to see things. And so he's going
to be an engineer in my belief either and perhaps
(09:48):
a pilot.
Speaker 1 (09:49):
And you it's worth mentioning you have a youth program
that people can join. Young people can join in. How
young do you have to be.
Speaker 2 (09:58):
They're generally about twelve.
Speaker 1 (10:00):
Yeah, so teenagers basically.
Speaker 2 (10:02):
Exactly, and they can be involved as much they want.
It's in our ambassador program and they work help work
with the simulators and as well as a lot of
the events with kids and the stop procket as I mentioned, well,
they'll be doing that and a lot of other things
that go on. So we have a we have a
fun time with the kids, and you know, yeah, and
(10:24):
some of them have been there for years and kind
of graduate from the program, if you will. So it's
a lot of fun to watch these young folks grow
up and have an interest, and we're there to want
to fuel that interest.
Speaker 1 (10:37):
I've met a couple of them, had them on the show,
and I was really really impressed. I think that there's
probably a self selection going on. If you're interested in aviation,
you're probably a little more connected to educational facilities around you.
And so I understand that the young people who would
come and be a part of the program would be
self selecting, and that you're dealing with scream of the
(11:00):
crop type of material. But I was I mean, we're
talking about I'm at two very very well spoken young
men with the I mean, you could feel their passion
and at at twelve and fifteen, the knowledge they have
about aviation and astronomy is mind boggling. It's it's really
(11:22):
it's really extraordinary, and it's the kind of thing that'll
make you, it'll make you hopeful for the future. And
you can engage your children just by taking them to
the museum. Lone starflight dot org. Lone starflight dot Org
go see their Corsair. The F four U von Corsel
is the famous plane that has goal wings. It looks
like a w on the ground. One of the most actually,
(11:43):
it is the most beautiful prop plane ever built. As
far as I'm concerned, it's my favorite. I just I
grew up in France. We watched the Bob Bob Black Sheep,
the series about Pappy Boington. And by the way, Poppy
Bonington wrote an autobiography called Bob Bob Black Sheep, and
it's fantastic. It's well worth reading. The audiobook is fantastic,
and we should move to the books because we have
(12:05):
special guests here. You're listening to Houston, PA, Houston's Public
Affairs Show. My name is Laurent and my guests are
here from the lone Star Flight Museum. Barbara Radnofski is
the author of The Barber, The Astronaut, and the golf Ball,
and she's going to be speaking about her book at
an event on January sixteenth. You can get information on
(12:26):
that event at lone starflight dot org. With her is
her husband Ed Subkiss, who is the co author of
The Barber, The Astronaut, and the golf Ball, and Jerry
Scott is the COO of the Lone Star Flight Museum.
He's also their flight director. Barbara, I'm just going to
quick decide. You mentioned there were going to be some
(12:46):
stomp rockets at a family event, which is actually happening
a couple of days after you speak on the eighteenth
of January. Those stomp rockets really like the ones. They're
made with compressed air and water. Like I had as
a kid, a pouch that.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
The person will paunch and then it will launch the
rocket who knows where.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
So it's pneumatic. It's a pneumatic.
Speaker 2 (13:11):
Rocket by the weight of the individual.
Speaker 1 (13:16):
Barbara, tell us your book. First of all, it is
a picture. The cover is a picture of a golf
ball on the moon. It even has the cross of
the advisor for the camera, the barber, the astronaut, and
the golf ball. What on earth is this book about?
If you know a little few things about a Paula,
(13:36):
you know, somebody hit a golf ball in the moon,
which is probably one of the coolest thing any human
being has ever done.
Speaker 3 (13:43):
You're right, Alan Shepherd is the first and only person.
Speaker 1 (13:46):
That's right, only guy, So you are right.
Speaker 3 (13:51):
The book is about a time back in the nineteen
sixties and a place, the Man Spacecraft Center, built on
a cow pasture south of Houston, and two men, a
barber who's really the lead of the story, and an astronaut,
Alan Shepherd, the first American in space in the Mercury program,
(14:12):
who went on to be the only Mercury astronaut to
walk on the Moon as well. That's how long lived
was his career at NASA. And it's about two kids
in one of the greatest places there could be to
grow up. That would be Ed and me and our
dads were both NASA scientists, engineers and worked together. And
(14:34):
it's about the friendship between Carlos the barber and Alan Shepherd,
a lifelong, deep friendship, and what it brought back home
from the Moon to as a gift from Shepherd to Carlos.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
So Shepherd brought played the golf ball. I can't believe
he hit a golf ball.
Speaker 2 (14:54):
In the Moon.
Speaker 1 (14:56):
He played two golf balls. Okay, one of them was
a hole in one.
Speaker 3 (14:59):
It's still there, Sugar, Both of them are still there
because you can't bend over in a spacesuit to pick
them up. You can't even see where the balls are
when you hit them and you cannot see through your
visor where you've dropped the ball. So it was a
sand trap shot on number one, And it was a
(15:19):
sand trap difficult shot on number two. But that's the
one that flew, according to Shepherd, Miles and Miles, he
was a showman. It did not go to Miles and Miles.
But he hit it and it was good enough, and
he packed up and he went home after that, all
with the blessing of NASA and the preparation of NASA.
But was there a third ball?
Speaker 1 (15:42):
But and this is really interesting in his pocket?
Speaker 3 (15:45):
Was was Shepherd the kind of man? Was he the
kind of genius in preparation who would actually keep a
third ball in reserve? Did he really believe that much
in redundancy the concept scientifically, one does not try to
rely just on one reserve. When you're a famous test
(16:06):
pilotte or not so famous test pilot, do you plan
to do everything you can before you leave the Earth's surface,
that your experiment in gravity and the effect of one
sixth gravity all approved by NASA? Would you get that
all done right and prepared beforehand? Would you bring an
extra golf ball?
Speaker 1 (16:26):
Let's talk about what bringing an extra golf ball could
cause because we're literally talking about calculating. She's pointing towards Ed.
Who's going to take this question? Well, this is something
that you can learn from simulators. Again, there's a wonderful
game called Curball space program, one of the greatest games
of all time, one of those games that accidentally teaches
(16:46):
you about orbital mechanics, rocketry, and space travel. And if
you've played such simulators, you know that adding a single
pound to your spacecraft can cause it to never reach orbit.
One single pound, And the truth is that the values
can be a lot smaller. And that's what's interesting about
the story you're telling us. I don't know if the
audience realized it, but that golf ball theoretically at least
(17:09):
and isn't it true that theoretically it could cause some problems.
Speaker 4 (17:12):
Theoretically yes, but practically no. Yeah, because the back back
in the sixties when this thing was developed, the program
they developed with side rolls, no computers, side rolls and
pencils and paper. Engineers would always error on the side
of the astronauts to make it safe.
Speaker 1 (17:29):
So a little more power, a little bit more power,
more fuel, right, a little bit more fuel, a little
bit more, weight, a little bit more, you know, the
center gravity could be off a little bit more, not like.
Speaker 4 (17:38):
Some of these are planes that are being built today
that you have to be spot on on everything. But
Alan Sheppard went to NASSA and said, okay, I want
to do this golfing thing. That was before he practiced
in a spacesuit. In a spacesuit, you're pressurized, you can't
move your arms. You're like the Micheline man in a
big suit, and you can't see the ground.
Speaker 1 (17:56):
You look like the state of marshmallow Man. That's right, Yes, yes,
maybe something from Ghostbusters.
Speaker 3 (18:01):
I don't know. Plus blinded in your visor, you can't can't,
you can't see, you can't move much.
Speaker 4 (18:08):
So we don't know this for sure, but I theorized
that Alan, after I figured out what was going to
be so difficult, he went to Deaccite and said, I
need another ball because golf balls coming package of three
and three to three times redundancies. They trained for three times.
You know, this was laid into the game, and you
add another ball to the manifest. You have to recalculate
the weight and balance for the whole spacecraft and for
(18:29):
the limb and back then there's no computer programs to
do this that we were talking about months of calculations
for something that's the size of a golf ball and
the weight of a golf ball. So you just said,
just putting your personal preference back. These astronauts are all
test pilots, and they're geared to push the machine to
its limits.
Speaker 3 (18:46):
But it is clear where the astronauts could put whatever
the heck they wanted as long as it was safe.
And our dads were part of the program to determine
what would be safe to be placed on the Moon
or travel at all in space. So it's it's a
great debate that's here. We don't try to tell you
definitively what happened. We cannot prove to a certainty that
(19:10):
this third ball actually flew when Shepherd gave it as
a gift.
Speaker 1 (19:13):
But what the book does is use this.
Speaker 3 (19:17):
Story and this golf ball signed by Shepherd and given
to his best friend Carlos on his return from the
moon and after he left isolation. Did it fly is
the question? But as you'll see when you read the book,
it what really why.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Would Shepherd you his best friend? By the way, what's
Carlos's last name.
Speaker 3 (19:38):
Carlos's last name is Via Gomez. As the Shepherd never
spoke of the gift that he gave to Carlos through
the end of his life, and Carlos never asked about
the gift. He came from isolation directly to Carlos's before
he met the press. He palmed it into his hand
(19:59):
like sometimes the aviators will do with a medal, and
he gave it to him and it said two Carlos
from Alan Shepherd and neither men. Neither men. Neither of
the men asked ever or talked about.
Speaker 1 (20:15):
It because it wasn't necessary. There's some things that men
don't need to tell each other. It's understood. I don't
need to read the book to know what the truth is.
I need to read the book to find out about
their relationship. Carlos owns and operates the beer garden, which
is still there, the beer garden and barberships here.
Speaker 2 (20:32):
It's a great burger in fact, La, I've had a
burger there recently and it was very very ood.
Speaker 1 (20:37):
So I'm a fan. I'm a fan of that.
Speaker 3 (20:39):
We still meet there, we still.
Speaker 2 (20:40):
Meet with.
Speaker 1 (20:42):
There, So tell me a little bit. I'm curious. What
does it mean to Carlos. I mean he to be
that connected to Actually, who are some of your best
friends through life? Alan Shepherd? What that one?
Speaker 3 (20:56):
Yeah, Carlos and most of the original seven astron all
the way through the current astronauts, and he is he
mourns with them when there are losses. There's a lot
of meetings that occur out in the beer garden and
barber shop, particularly on karaoke nights, and we've been there.
(21:17):
We have felt the connection to many decades of wonderful
NASA people, as well as the bankers, the bikers, the
oil field workers, everyone who shows up for Carlos and
the beer garden.
Speaker 1 (21:33):
Yeah, your dad was involved in helping the Apollo thirteen
astronauts modify their orbit and get home.
Speaker 2 (21:43):
Is that right?
Speaker 3 (21:44):
My dad and Ed's dad worked together. My dad was
chief of Crew Systems at NASA, responsible for the interior
of the spacecraft and the safety elements, and Ed's dad
worked with him for many, many years. So Ed's got
the technical aspects of what our dads did down to
a fine, fine tooth. But yes, my dad was in the.
Speaker 1 (22:07):
Room as they were jerry rigging the systems on the
film that's based on those people. Yes, sir, we forget that.
You know, the most of these people lived right around here.
It's there's a non zero chance are going to run
into one of these people, which is a reminder to
be nice to everyone. Ed, I hear. I understand that
you came in sort of to clean up the technical
(22:31):
aspects of the books of the book.
Speaker 4 (22:32):
Is that right, Yes, Borrow wrote about ninety percent of
the book and then got felt ill and needed a
little bit of help to get finished, and I stepped in,
and you know, it's sort of like a cleanup batter
God taken care of.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Yeah, but this this seems to be more about the people,
right and their relationship.
Speaker 3 (22:51):
It is to a great degree. But we had a
wonderful antagonist involved, a brilliant memorabilia expert, and the documentary
that we made, which will be premiered at the Flight
Museum that's.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
Going to be on January sixteenth, corrector you're speaking at
this event as well.
Speaker 3 (23:10):
The documentary will be there in January eighteenth, is where
we're going to do stop rockets to the kid stem
science and talk about lunar golfing. They'll learn by doing that.
Speaker 1 (23:21):
It's such a funny story and the pictures are so funny.
And I'm also I don't want to talk about it
because I think it's silly, but I am eternally amused
by the theories, the silly theories that Stanley Kubrick faked
at the Apollo moon landings. That's just funny as heck
to me, it's really really funny. But it's worth mentioning
that if you go to the Lone Star Flight museums,
you're actually going to witness that history as it was
(23:44):
back then. Those old planes are all part of that
technology that eventually leads I mean, just for instance, the
rudimentry plus minus computers that the aviators used in those
old corsas for instance, were eventually evolved. They added transistors
and they have They built the computers at the the
Apollo astronauts used to guide their rockets. And I don't
(24:05):
know how many people realize that the phones in our
pockets are exponentially more powerful than those computers. It's not
even you're talking about a sewing machine comparatively speaking to
the cell phone.
Speaker 2 (24:18):
And well, and they were tasked with go solve a problem. Yeah,
and by doing that they developed a lot of technology
that was then handed over to industries and then and
then developed and you know, our lives are much better.
Oh yeah, in so many respects, with medicine, with technology,
(24:38):
with on and on and on because of things that
were developed. If I had the opportunity, and I'm not
going to ruin anything from the book, it's it's a
fun read. It's an easy read.
Speaker 1 (24:47):
Yeah, yeah, it's it's brief, it's well, this is another
great Christmas.
Speaker 2 (24:51):
Give so I won't ruin anything. But as Bart mentioned,
you know, Aber Shepherd had two golf balls. First one
he whiffed, couldn't see it, second one he connected with.
I always I would have loved to ask him. Was
that the reason for the third golf ball? If he
was with the second one also, and you know that
(25:11):
it was there as the safety. Yeah, because he connected
with the second one, it wasn't necessary. That's great.
Speaker 1 (25:18):
But the way he palms the golf ball, goes to
see his friend Carlos before meeting the press, all of
this suggests a conspiracy, like maybe they knew they were
going to do something like this. Of course I'm using
the word conspiracy dramatically.
Speaker 3 (25:33):
But the interesting, the interesting aspect is. The friendship was
so deep that neither man discussed it. The understanding between
them was such. This was something that was meaningful. And
Carlos had said, because he cuts Shepherd's hair right before
the night before he went into Isolation, and he said,
(25:54):
shep do something for me up there, write my name
in the lunar sand. And sheperd smiled and grinned, his
famous Shepherd grin. And when Shepherd came back, the first
thing he did was go visit with his wife, who
picked him up in their car, and they drove across
the street across from Nasa, from Isolation, and they went
(26:15):
to They went to Carlos and they shook hands, and
that's when he palmed the golf ball. All Shepherd said
was put this away in a safe place.
Speaker 2 (26:24):
That was it.
Speaker 3 (26:25):
Post World War Two, he was policing for the Navy
as a Bosun's mate on a gunboat, delivering people from
Hanoi on the rivers of what is now Vietnam and
delivering them safely to the south. He also took frogmen.
There were no higher callings. They don't have the fancy
(26:48):
seal label. Back then. He would deliver frogmen in the
seas of China for their missions and make sure that
he was exactly in the right place when they came
back twenty four hours later.
Speaker 1 (26:58):
And not for nothing. But he was on a boat
that was sunk by an atomic bomb.
Speaker 3 (27:02):
That is correct.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
That's another like, that's a good else, dude. That's a
good story else, dude.
Speaker 3 (27:08):
And it only came up when I started asking Hi
about how come you're hearing so bad. This is our
dearest friend from childhood, and we were asking why is
your hearing so bad? And he said, well, you know,
it might have been the gun boat and all the
bullets pinging off, but I think it was the nuclear bomb.
And I said, oh, really, well, tell us about that
and he said, well, you know, I was volunteered to
(27:30):
go on a boat to see what would happen if
an atomic bombs dropped.
Speaker 1 (27:34):
So I did.
Speaker 3 (27:36):
I said what happened? He said, oh, spectacular, spectacular. We
had this huge spout went up hundreds of feet in
the air. I said, no, no, what happened to y'all?
And he said, well, the boat sunk.
Speaker 1 (27:50):
Well, the boat sunk, you know. And he lives without
radiation sickness, thankfully.
Speaker 3 (27:56):
He is hearty and well that's awesome about ninety and
still is out there at the beer garden and barber shop.
Speaker 1 (28:03):
But how many people can tell these stories? What an
extraordinary life, and that's why we wrote the book. Yeah,
so check it out, folks. The Barber, the Astronaut, and
the golf Ball by Barbara Radnofski and ed Supkiss. As
always when it relates to Houston public affairs and any
of the subjects I have on the show, if you
need me to send you an emails or reminder, I'm
(28:25):
happy to send you a link to where you can
get the book. They've recorded an audiobook which is so awesome, Jerry,
you wanted to mention.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Yeah, in addition to lot of the historic aircraft, a
lot of the warbirds that we've talked about a little bit,
because we're so close to NASA, we have the NASA
CCT Crew Compartment Trainer CCT two that was used for
training that people can see. We also have the flight
similar that every Shuttle commander and pilot trained in from
(28:53):
STS one to STS one thirty five, the actual similar
line so on the gimbal.
Speaker 1 (28:58):
Oh wow, that's so literally his technological history that you
can put you in the seat of these professionals.
Speaker 2 (29:05):
Currently, we've got one of our exhibits is called from
Space to See, featuring artwork from the Navy as to
the influence that the Navy had with NASA. The machines
are phenomenal, but the people and the stories are really what,
in my opinion, makes so much that so special.
Speaker 1 (29:22):
And if you want to be impressed when you're there,
go find one of their youth ambassadors. They're often Dawson's
so they'll be walking around. You'll see a young person
with a museum t shirt on. Go say hi. Believe me,
you won't regret it. It'll give you hope for the future.
You know, we always talk about the millennials and all
the gen zs and they're gonna be fine. They're gonna
(29:44):
be fine. And then the Long Star Flight Museum is
proof of that. You just go, you go to a
place where your passion is encouraged and you're also encouraged
to push yourself and that's what you get. You just
get excellence, like the young man I met, wonderful place.
I want to say again too that on January sixteenth,
Barbara Radnofski and Ed Subkiss will be at an event
(30:05):
to promote the barber, the astronaut and the golf ball.
Go to lone starflight dot org. Lone starflight dot org.
And once again, as I said, just send me an email,
I'll send you the answer to the question you're asking.
Texan from France at gmail dot com. Texan from France
at gmail dot com, and I want to thank you
for listening and caring about the issues I put on
(30:26):
this show.
Speaker 2 (30:26):
Ladies and gentlemen.
Speaker 1 (30:27):
My name is Laurent I am the Texan from France
and this has been Houston, PA, Houston's public affairs show,
Houston Strong
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