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Curated playlist

National Aviation Hall of Fame inductees

  • Pete ConradPete Conrad's first words on the Moon were a joke he had bet $500 on.
  • James McDivittOn Gemini 4, James McDivitt had to force a jammed hatch latch back into place with his fingers.
  • Ed White (astronaut)Ed White floated out of his capsule in 1965 and did not want to come back. He was the first American to walk in space.
  • Gus GrissomDoctors nearly cut Gus Grissom from astronaut selection because he had hay fever.
  • Fred HaiseFred Haise came within days of becoming the sixth person to walk on the Moon. Then Apollo 13's oxygen tank ruptured.
  • Buzz AldrinBuzz Aldrin's first words on the Moon were "Beautiful view." Years later he was selling used cars.
  • Alan ShepardAn inner ear disease grounded astronaut Alan Shepard for years before he walked on the Moon.
  • Neil ArmstrongNeil Armstrong's astronaut application came about a week late, until a colleague slipped it into the pile.
  • John Young (astronaut)John Young walked on the Moon and later commanded the first Space Shuttle mission. He is the only person to do both.
  • Frank BormanA stranger's telegram told Apollo 8's Frank Borman, "You saved 1968." He commanded the first crew to orbit the Moon.
  • Wally SchirraAstronaut Wally Schirra refused Mission Control's request to wear helmets.
  • Michael Collins (astronaut)Michael Collins orbited the Moon thirty times and never set foot on it.
  • Robert R. GilruthWhen Kennedy promised a Moon landing, Robert Gilruth was aghast.
  • Wright brothersThe Wright brothers' 1903 patent did not claim an airplane. It claimed a system for controlling one.
  • Alexander Graham BellAlexander Graham Bell was honored after his death in an unusual way. When his funeral ended, for one minute at 6:25 p.m. Eastern Time, every telephone on the continent of North America was silenced. The man being remembered is credited…
  • Katherine JohnsonKatherine Johnson was the mathematician an astronaut asked for by name. NASA was using electronic computers for the first time to calculate John Glenn's orbit of the Earth. Officials turned to Johnson to verify the machine's numbers,…
  • Alan BeanAlan Bean walked on the Moon, then quit NASA to paint it. He pressed Moon dust from his suit patches into canvases.
  • Deke SlaytonOne heart test grounded astronaut Deke Slayton in 1962. He then picked the crews who flew to the Moon.
  • Charles LindberghCharles Lindbergh stared at a huge field of glowing lights near Paris in May 1927 and took it for a giant industrial complex. He had just flown alone across the Atlantic, and the airfield he was hunting was not on his map. All he knew was…
  • Abe SilversteinAbe Silverstein, a NASA engineer, gave the Apollo program its name. He chose a Greek and Roman god of light and the sun.

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