Fwd: Grumman workers reunite to mark moon landing

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From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: July 19, 2013 8:52:00 PM GMT-06:00
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Grumman workers reunite to mark moon landing

 

 

 

         Jul. 19, 2013   |  

Grumman workers reunite to mark moon landing

Astronaut John Young works near the Lunar Rover on the moon in 1972. / NASA

Written by
Scott Gunnerson
FLORIDA TODAY

TITUSVILLE — Nearly 200 people responsible for the lunar module that put man on the moon 44 years ago have come back to the Space Coast to celebrate their achievement and teamwork.

For some, it will be the first time back at Kennedy Space Center since they were laid off at the end of the Apollo program in the 1970s.

"Every year it becomes more important because we are all getting older," said 69-year-old Marty Winkel, who worked for Grumman Aerospace and is organizing the reunion. "There are some people I haven't seen since 1972."

Reunion attendees will tour Space View Park and the Apollo Monument in Titusville on Friday and dine Saturday at Kennedy Space Center in the Saturn V Building, which houses a lunar module.

Former Grumman lunar module team members will also meet Apollo astronauts, including Fred Haise and Edgar Mitchell, during several social functions this weekend. Mitchell walked on the moon during Apollo 14 in 1971 and Haise was aboard Apollo 13 in 1970.

The reunions are not an annual event for the Grumman lunar module team. Its most recent get-togethers were two years ago in Stuart and nine years ago in Brevard County. This year will be the first time they have returned to the space center as a group.

There are tentative plans to meet again 2016 and then 2019 to coincide with the 50th anniversary of the moon landing.

"We don't know how many more reunions we will have, and each reunion becomes more important than the previous one," said Winkel, who worked on both Apollo and shuttle programs until 2011.

Contact Gunnerson at twitter.com/scottgunnerson, sgunnerson@floridatoday.com, 321-360-1016.

 

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