Our Last Moon Landing.

Considered one of the most memorable Apollo launches, the Apollo 17 blasted off from Launch Pad 39 at Kennedy Space Center on December 7, 1972. This was the first nighttime launch and it made a spectacular sight. The crew was made up by Command Module Pilot Ronald E. Evans, civilian geologist Jack Schmitt and the Spacecraft Commander Eugene Cernan they were lifted up from the Cape by a Saturn V Rocket. As usual, the CBS Newscaster Walter Cronkite was reporting live. But he made one of the most embarrassing gaffes of his career when he said that the night launch would "light up the sky like a firecracker. (There was a brief pause.) Uh, excuse me, Wally," Cronkite continued to guest commentator and former Astronaut Wally Schirra, "I should day, perhaps, like a roman candle." 

 Gathered at the launch viewing were hundreds of VIP’s and celebrities, the local paper reported that celebrities were dime a dozen. Pictures in the press showed celebrities, Eva Gabor, pointing to the fiery liftoff and Franks Sinatra staring and Jonathan Winter puffing a stogey, all captioned with “everyone was bedazzled.” There was confusion all around. Assigned seating in the bleaches was not observed by some as some people got it wrong. Former Florida Gov. Kirk got kicked out of a VIP stand for sitting in a taken seat, he had to leave as he didn't have a pass. Stumbling around the crowds looking confused was an Asian military man, his uniform draped with braiding, his shoulder festooned with stars, he wandered around the bleachers lost, unable to communicate. An elderly woman, not a big shot, steered the general back to his seat. 

  Meanwhile, in space, the Saturn rocket headed off on a journey to the moon. The lunar module made a soft landing in the Taurus-Littrow region of the moon. The headlines reported, “Landing Smoother Than Any” The newspaper dated December 12, 1972, reported astronaut Cernan as saying, 'It is Beautiful Out Here’. During the mission a mishap caused the fender on the Moon Rover to break and thus driving was difficult with lunar dust flying up at the moon rover riders. "I got to make a fender tonight," Astronaut Gene Cernan said. "Man I hate this dust." Radio communications with Houston Control resulted in a solution where a map was folded in such a way and duck taped to make a temporary fender, and it worked. Traveling along the moon surface an interesting discovery was made, orange soil in a crater. Astronaut Jack Smitt hesitantly suggested the strange appearing soil might have originated from a volcanic type vent, but added "But I hate to even suggest it." After all the experiments had been performed it was time to return to Earth. A short ceremony was held to end this final Apollo mission to the Moon. Astronauts Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt unveiled a plaque commemorating all six Apollo landings on the moon and acknowledging all the ground crews that made this scientific achievement possible. "This valley of history has seen mankind completes his first evolutionary steps into the universe," geologist Schmitt said, "leaving the planet earth and going forth into the universe. Cernan recognized the support of the ground crews and workers. He concluded his farewell, “God willing, We'll Return”. 

 A letter from NASA director Kurt H. Debus on December 19, 1972, congratulated everyone. ‘I think it was entirely appropriate as Gene Cernan and Jack Schmitt positioned the American Flag on the moon that it was dedicated to all those people who made the Apollo lunar landings possible. It was quite a tribute and well deserved one for all of you. Sincerely, Kurt H.Debus’ 

 

History Buffs Unite: January 24th.

Gold and Silver Found - July disaster

It will have been 297 years to this date that a treasure fleet disaster of epic proportions occurred off the Central Florida coast.

In 1715 a fleet of ships carrying treasure from the New World to Spain was destroyed in a huge hurricane. It was in the evening of July 30, 1715 , seven days after departing from Havana, Cuba, eleven of the twelve ships of this fleet were sunk dumping their precious cargo of gold, silver and other expensive commodities along Florida’s East Coast. Most of the ships went down in the Fort Pierce and Wabasso beach ares but many experts agree that there is evidence that some wrecked further North. Nearly 700 sailors perished while a small number survived by drifting ashore on wreckage and lifeboats.


Spain immediately sent their salvage ships, employed local Indians for salvage work, and then
came the pirates that helped themselves. The British governor of Jamaica sent out his left-hand man Henry Jennings but the sight of all treasure turned him into a privateer,and later a full pirate. This event launched the dawning of the “Golden Age of Piracy on the Caribbean. Decades later the legend faded away only to leave evidence in oral stories and a map notation by Englishman Bernard Romans.

Rumors abound and perhaps some private discoveries were made but it wasn't till the early 1960's that a retired building contractor by the name of Kip Wagner made the find of a lifetime. It all started when he found some little flat black stones that he would skip along the water until somebody told him that that was Spanish silver coins he was throwing. Kip did some investigating and bought a metal detector and found more.  One thing led to another and the right eight people with the right skills got together and formed a company called the Real Eight Company. The word was out and gold and silver were on a lot of people's minds. Even the state of Florida got involved and proper salvage operations began.



To be continued; The Treasure Map which marked the spot, the National Geographic Society get involved, a Treasure Exhibit and more.