NASA turns 50

Image via WikipediaAlthough I am not fascinated by space exploration, I am amazed by what has been achieved in my lifetime. All those geeky guys with slide rules and huge rooms of computers and a lot of money managed to do a lot to get space exploration off the ground.

My most vivid memories were watching the moon landing early in the morning at a local farm in Scotland. We didn't have a television and my dad felt we should be watching it. I also watched the Challenger disaster live in bed with flu in Washington DC. Almost as traumatic as September 11.

These images are great.

I never did work out how to use a slide rule. Perhaps that was why I never became an astronaut. As far as I know there is no Scottish space programme. Even my dad, who was in the Black Watch had to take off his kilt when he was in the paratroops. Kilted floating astronauts. A scary thought.