Re: HP41 and Space Shuttle Message #10 Posted by aaron goodman on 24 Oct 1999, 2:21 a.m., in response to message #1 by Rupert
Tonight I was looking over the HP forum at the HP museum. I regret that lately I don't get to do that more often than I'd like.
I'm an HP41 fan (you can check out my web page at www.zianet.com/goodman if you're so inclined).
I looked through the thread of responses to your inquiry.
I'd like to say that I can help you in regards to your 41 inquiry, but I can't. The legacy of the HP through the space program, from the 65 to the 41, has long intrigued me, since I was a kid. But most of it remains lost. That's a shame.
The real reason I'm writing is to say that I would like to promote a respect for the NASA astronauts. Here at my house, among many NASA souvenirs, I have an autographed pic of John Young (we shook hands and talked a while last year) to my daughter. An American legend like John Young didn't have to take the time to return to his office, sit down, and autograph a pic for my daughter, but he did. The day I asked him to do so, he didn't blink twice. He simply grinned and said, and this is a rough quote, "Well I can't seem to sell these pictures, so I might as well give them away..." It's a really neat photo of him covering his days from Apollo to Shuttle. There are probably a number of you out there who don't even know who John Young is. And I guess it doesn't matter, actually.
The politics of NASA make a lot of technical things difficult to obtain and understand (much to my professional frustration), but I've met and talked with a number of astronauts, and they are among the most talented, educated, humble, and courageous folks I've ever met. It's all well to talk about David Bowie and so forth ( I actually like a lot of his music), and I'm sometimes as liberal as the next guy, but truly, we all owe a debt to the US space program that few of "this generation" understand. Even if one ignores the technical steps we've made because of it, it's an honor to have people among us who have met the challenge of exploring space. Please as you go through this thread, keep my words in mind.
Humblest best regards,
aaron
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