CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) – NASA’s earliest and greatest astronauts gathered at Kennedy Space Center on Friday to mark the grand opening of a new space exhibit in which they’re the stars.
Thirty astronauts, three of them moonwalkers, took part in the outdoor ceremony, including two who had extra reason to celebrate. Fifty years ago Friday, Jim Lovell and Buzz Aldrin launched on Gemini 12, the last of that program.
With all the excitement, Lovell forgot about Friday’s anniversary – until reminded by a reporter. He said spacewalks and rendezvous were refined on the two-man Gemini missions and “opened up the road to Apollo.” He later flew on Apollo – Apollo 8, the first manned flight to the moon, and the infamous, close-call Apollo 13.
Lovell’s Boy Scout handbook is on display at the exhibit’s new United States Astronaut Hall of Fame – relocated from its original location six miles down the road – along with his scouting sash and merit badges.
“I can’t believe it’s 50 years” since the last Gemini flight, said Thomas Stafford of Gemini 6 and 9, Apollo 10 and the Apollo-Soyuz joint mission between the United States and Soviet Union.