Early NASA History According to a NASA Brat

Yesterday, I gave a presentation to a group of Program Managers here at Boeing. They asked me to talk with them about what NASA was like in the early days since I was a NASA Brat. I was honored to be asked. I titled the presentation "Early NASA History According to an Original NASA Brat." This was the first time I had presented something to a group of people. I was a little nervous, but confident since I knew the material well. Dad had told me a lot about his time at Edwards working on the X planes, so I was able to share info from a firsthand perspective. Dad had shared a lot with me about some of the flight tests and the funny things that had happened that history does not record.

For instance, young Neil Armstrong, the New Guy, was flying a test in an F104 (I believe that was the Aircraft he was flying at the time). He went off radar and lost comms. After having no luck re-establishing contact, they started a search-and-rescue operation, fearing the worst. A few hours of searching, they finally found him in a valley, standing on the wing of his Aircraft, waving at the helicopter. He had thought the valley floor was dry, but it was still muddy from the rains. They picked him up, and during the debrief, they found out that he had landed to use the bathroom, but because the valley floor was muddy, the Aircraft was stuck. Being between the mountains, his radio was blocked. Later, they posted 24-7 guards on the Aircraft until the valley floor dried enough for it to take off.

I am so thankful for the few years I carpooled to work with Dad. That is when he shared with me all the little-known stories of the X-planes ' test flights.