Before the Moon NASA Came Here
That was the tag line for the front page story in today's newspaper. "Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins were among the many astronauts and researchers who came to Bend between 1964 and 1966 to observe basalt and other volcanic rock that might resemble the lunar landscape and practice negotiation the terrain in their space gear."
The front page of the newspaper in August 25, 1964 devoted one half of the front page to "Astronaut Cunningham finds jagged lava tough going" which included three pictures of the astronaut, two in his spacesuit. The paper reported that "Cunningham hiked through the lava flow at McKenzie Pass in his space suite for about six minutes, before he tripped on a rock and fell, tearing a hole in his glove.
An area outside of bend where the astronauts spent some of their time training is now the Newberry National Volcanic Monument. Here are some pictures of the area (double-click on photos for a large image):
A plaque near the beginning of the main trail remembering the astronauts:
A couple of views of the area, it's really hard to get a feeling for just how desolate and rugged the lava flow is:
And finally our friend Robert up to his ears in lava:
The Great Dumpster Fire
One of the headlines from KOHD TV was a report of a dumpster fire next to a business in Bend yesterday. It was complete with some great film clips of the heat-ravaged dumpster and the front of the business along with the assurance that a "second fire unit was called in to inspect the roof of the building" to make sure that the fire didn't jump to the roof. Now to be fair, this was the THIRD headline after the report of a drowning from yesterday and the repeat of a three-day old stabbing. All cities should have the problem that the big news is a dumpster fire.
