I always wanted to be an astronaut. In fact I still do. But due to my asthma that was never going to be in the cards.
I think the desire really stems from getting to know an actual Gemini/Apollo astronaut when I was a ten year old kid. The first time I met him we were at a gymnastics practice for his daughter and my sister who were on the same team. I was in a small lobby building a spaceship with some Legos and had no idea who he was. He sat next to me and asked me what I was doing.
Being the typical, obnoxious kid I bluntly replied without really looking at him, “I’m building a spaceship, DUH.” He then said something to the effect of “Well I know a little something about that” and sat down to help me. I’ll never forget it when my Mom told me later who he was.
That’s him on the right returning from the Gemini 4 mission. A mission that included the first spacewalk by fellow astronaut and friend Ed White. (That’s Ed above on the left. He sadly passed away two years later in the Apollo 1 fire with Gus Grissom and Roger Chaffee.)
But what also happened on that Gemini 4 flight was what Jim did. He took all the photos and film which we as a society have of that first spacewalk. As a filmmaker I think that is pretty cool.
Luckily I saw Jim quite a few more times over the next few years and got to know him a bit. When I’d be stuck at a practice or gymnastic meet he’d keep me entertained with some great stories of his NASA days. And I loved to listen to all of them. As I listened I always thought of how he reminded me of just anyone’s typical, average Grandpa. And yet he had done some of the most amazing things a human could ever do.
That meeting and friendship was a big influence on my life. It has also influenced our concept for our long forming film project THE WAVES. We’ve added other layers, elements, and changed the ideas quite a bit since our first story outlines, but for me it all really goes back to Jim helping me build a better spaceship.
More soon…
