Here's my Special Edition of Windows 95.

Whoa, where'd you find a thing like that?

Positively malding learning there was Whirlwind swag at VCF West 2024???

Posting this here because it was a fantastic talk and I learned some new things about Whirlwind!

     The above photos show Launch Complex 34 (LC-34) at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. This is the site that the Apollo 1 astronauts, Grissom, White and Chaffee lost their lives in a fire during a routine launch simulation test on January 27, 1967. You can find endless accounts and details about what happened to the astronauts on that day, why the fire started, and what it did to the Apollo Program. I want to focus on a more untold story, what if feels like to stand there today, and LC-34’s former glory.

     Launch Complex 34 was the first pad constructed for the peaceful exploration of space. Over the years, even as a child, I saw LC-34 in photography and documentaries, and heard astronauts reflect on the failure and successes associated with this place. When it was built, LC-34 was the largest launch facility in the world, with a 300+ foot service tower looming over the pad. Seven enormous Saturn I and Saturn IB rockets began their journey into space here, including the manned Apollo 7 mission, which flight tested the newly re-designed Apollo Command Module. Today, the three story launch platform still stands, with an exhaust opening in the top, rimmed with some remnants of the water deluge system. 

     After all these years of study, I never thought I’d be standing on this pad, and I surely wasn’t prepared for the emotions I’d experience while visiting. I visited the complex on Memorial Day, May 26, 2014. I can’t think of a better place or time to reflect on heroes lost, what’s important to me, or why I have so much pride in this country and NASA. As soon as I approached the pad, I delved into my photography. As a photographer, I am happiest while hiding behind this magical little box we call a camera. For about ten minutes, I focused on making the shots displayed in this photoset. But I could only hide for so long.

     Once put my camera away, I took a step back from the pad, looked over the structure and was overcome by emotion. Many different feelings hit me like a ton of bricks, the strongest of which was an overwhelming sense of pride. I’m proud of being part of a country that is willing to sail on the ocean of space, even at great cost. Proud of these three men, and any astronaut who takes risks for their country, scientific progress, and the betterment of the human race. Personally, I’m proud to follow in the footsteps of these men as an aviator. Every astronaut that flies in space is very intelligent about the risks, but they fly anyway. Weeks before his fatal accident on this launch pad, Gus Grissom was interviewed by Time Magazine and said, “If we die, we want people to accept it. We’re in a risky business, and we hope that if anything happens to us it will not delay the program. The conquest of space is worth the risk of life.” Before I turned to leave Launch Complex 34, I looked up toward the sky above the launch pedestal and said a silent, simple thank-you to Gus, Ed and Roger.

You Can't Play Them All At Once!

Computer Chronicles - Best Online Computer Games (1998)

Apple computers I no longer have in my possession and regret getting rid of when I moved back home to California from Colorado. I found the IIcx at an Arc Store in Colorado for $20 and never got around to testing it. The Apple IIe was bought from an e-waste facility in California and needed some work that at the time I did not have the experience to take on (now I do).

January 27, 1967 — The crew of Apollo 1 is killed in a flash-fire during a ground test

Harwell Dekatron "WITCH", the world's oldest working digital computer.

Remembering Gus, Ed and Roger

Apple Concept

ROM February 1978

The Valentine's sampler on the cover this month (including a Southwest Technical Products Corp. terminal) led into a software-focused issue (including Joseph Weizenbaum's skeptical take on artificial intelligence, illustrated with drawings of C-3P0).

Flight Engineer Valery Kubasov studies flight plan, ASTP

As You Get Better, It Gets Better...