A Brief Pause From The Ordinary..., Demographics time--please just humor me Options

[nasaman58]

I just joined this community last night, and I'm just curious about some of the people here. I'm only 19 years old, but I'm more interested in all things space than anyone I've ever met. Just out of curiosity, what are people's ages in this forum?

[edstrick]

For the record, I'm 53 also. I have trace memories of the post-sputnik days, and some real memories of Mercury, but I really started tracking with Gemini and Ranger and Mariner 4. (I wasn't really "sapient" before then....)

My dad was quality control manager at Bell Aircraft (later Aerospace) rocket division. His inspectors signed off on the Lunar Module Ascent Engines, among other things.

Oldest brother was a space-nut and he audiotaped live off TV the launch of Ranger *3* (Correspondent Walter Cronkite, reporting from Cape Canaveral) (Too bad the mission was a 95% failure) He also taped John Glenn's first two orbits (off NBC), most of Gemini 3, and the grand finale of Ranger 9: *** LIVE FROM THE MOON ***.... well.. it was approaching the moon... when it arrived, it was turned into shiny metal bits....

I started taping with Gemini 6 and 7, and have continued ever since. Video now.
My prize posessions include audio of live coverage of Surveyor 1 landing, the launch of the first Saturn 5.... (My *GOD*, THE BUILDING'S SHAKING... THE BUILDING'S SHAKING HERE!). I've also got a really good stereo recording of the launch of Apollo 16. The two networks (left and right channels) were synchronized (not one through a satellite and the other with landlines), both had outdoor microphones, and neither microphone died HORRIBLY.

I processed my first digital image in 1966: colored pencils and the numbers for a corner of Mariner 4's frame 11, published in Scientific American's article on the images.

I almost had a PhD doing Mars geology, but it finished me before I finished it and I ended up image processing in industry, and having fun "on the side".