Space and the universe: firing our imaginations

Famous naturalist John Muir, who spent many of his younger years in Wisconsin, once observed the interconnectedness of the natural world: “When we try to pick out anything by itself, we find it hitched to everything else in the Universe.”

The beauty of the universe and the excitement of the U.S. space program have generated many memories for all of us. We asked alumni two questions:

1. Do you remember when man first walked on the moon? The Challenger exploded? You witnessed an eclipse or comet? You first saw “the man in the moon?” What is your most memorable spacerelated event?

2. Would you take a space flight in the future? If so, who would you take with you into space?

Here are some of the responses we received.

Yes, I would definitely travel into outer space. My husband and I are both fascinated by space, so I would bring him along for the experience.

Jessica Rosen Lively ’02 Chula Vista, California

I would take a trip into outer space. I would take my son. This would make him the first person with Down syndrome to be in outer space. I would want to take the flight on March 21. March 21 is World Down Syndrome Awareness Day. It is held on this date because the date 3-21 stands for 3 21st chromosomes.

I remember during the televised portion of the first manned shuttle launch, April 1981, they showed a side-byside comparison between a replay of the shuttle launch and the launch of an Apollo craft. The shuttle was well on its way before the Apollo craft had even cleared its launch tower.

Joan-Marie Zech Gerth ’79 Oak Harbor, Washington

I had a cool experience back in the ’90s sometime seeing the space shuttle take off. Mike Vassallo ’72 (now deceased) and I played on the Ripon College golf team together in the spring of ’72, and we remained close friends thereafter. We lived near the Chicago area and by February each year we were getting cabin fever, so we started an annual trip to Florida to play golf with a couple other friends from the area. We went down about 10 years in a row.

I was in France on a high school trip between junior and senior years in high school. It was 1969. Neil Armstrong walked on the moon, and I put a little American flag up in my room using a bar of soap as the flag stand. The French headlines were full of American stories that summer. One was the moon landing, and the other was Teddy Kennedy driving off a bridge.

Susan Vonder Heide ’74 Chicago, Illinois

Flat on my back in the cemetery watching the stars!

I was just being released from active duty in the U.S. Navy and was staying in the international service accommodations in Naples, Italy. One afternoon, a group of people from a variety of nations and military services were gathered around a television in a lounge in the compound, watching as American astronauts descended from their craft to take their “giant step for mankind.” It was a bonding and emotional moment for all of us gathered there, representing not our countries of origin or branches of the service, but our pride as fellow earthlings watching one of our own step successfully into the hitherto unknown in search of answers about our connections to our greater universe.

Bob Blair ’66 Berlin, Massachusetts

On the first day of the trip, we would fly down to Orlando and play a course later in the day as sort of a warmup to the rounds that would follow in the next four or five days. By the time we would finish 18 holes, it was dusk.

One year, we are coming down the 18th hole and it’s getting dark, and off to the north-east we see the space shuttle taking off. We all stopped in our tracks and just stood and watched as the big orange ball of flame rose majestically into the sky and after a few minutes just disappeared into the higher altitudes.

It was a sight I will never forget as it was just coincidence that we saw it at all. If it had occurred a few moments later we might have been in the clubhouse having a beer, or a few moments earlier we would have been facing the other direction on the 17th hole and missed it.

Jim Hintz ’72 Salem, South Carolina

I remember having to go to a different classroom to watch the Alan Shepard and John Glenn launches. When I was in high school, we’d finally gotten a (B/W) TV, so I got to see Armstrong and Aldrin from the comfort of my living room.

But the incident that made the biggest impact on me was the Challenger disaster. My oldest brother is a teacher. He was one of 10 finalists for the Teacher in Space launch. So he’d worked and trained with Christa McAuliffe, et al., for months. So when I heard the news of the explosion, I was devastated for those killed, those directly involved, and for my brother who’d just lost close friends, yet also relieved that he’d not been chosen.

It’s very confusing, being devastated AND relieved at the same time! I will never forget the emotions of that day, or the feeling in the pit of my stomach.

William Metcalf ’75 Lowell, Massachusetts

We first landed on the moon the summer after my freshmen year at Ripon. I was working as a waitress that summer and so clearly remember walking out after work that night, standing still for a long time just staring at that beautiful, full moon on an unbelievably clear Chicago evening. I was awed at knowing that there were men on the moon. It seemed at that moment that the world truly was changing.

Two summers later, Sue Mjanovich Key ’72 and I were on the last weeks of a summer spent in Europe. We had bought bikes in Edinburgh with the intent of biking back to London for our flight home. On the first night, we stayed at a rural B & B in the Scottish countryside. The innkeepers were so excited about the American moon landing that was about to take place. Unlike my experience with the first moon landing, neither Sue nor I had any idea that America was once again landing on the moon. Had we, like many Americans, grown so nonchalant about this amazing scientific achievement or were we just travelers that were out of touch with world events?

Karen Teschner Dorn ’72 Arlington Heights, Illinois

In the early ’70s, the northern lights appeared on a few occasions. I recall some students making them a viewing experience.

Dave Bunten ’73 Lake Zurich, Illinois

I was a first lieutenant, U.S. Army, stationed in South Korea in 1969. Early in the morning, 5-6 a.m., July 21 (South Korea is a day ahead of the United States), I received a phone call from the duty officer, 1st Brigade, 7th Division, requesting that I report to brigade headquarters as soon as possible. My position was company commander, Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 1st Brigade. As we were always on alert for possible activity on the DMZ, I got there in about 15 minutes.

Upon arrival, I was greeted by the brigade commander and his staff. All of the junior officers were there or arrived shortly. We were all requested to move to the “mess” (dining) hall/staff meeting room to wait for the brigade commander. We were called to attention upon his arrival. He commanded us to be “at ease” and requested that the Korean bartender come in and pour the champagne. Once that was completed, he asked us to raise our glasses and he proposed a toast to the United States of America, followed by an announcement that the United States space program was preparing to land a spacecraft on the moon. Many of us were not aware that a spacecraft was launched earlier in the day.

After the toasts, he dismissed us and announced the bar was open and the TV was on for us to watch the landing and the following events. Needless to say, many of us stayed in the bar for the remainder of the telecast!

Richard Kuehl ’67 Carbondale, Illinois

Being in the aerospace industry, I was very interested in space-related activity. My cousin, who was stationed at Patrick AFB, Florida, was able to get VIP seats for a night space shuttle launch from Kennedy Space Center. I took my youngest son to witness the launch.

John Pickerel ’68 Mesa, Arizona

The first walk on the moon by Neil Armstrong was amazing. Stayed up late. The Challenger exploding was very sad. Was at a business client’s catching the take of the first teacher into space, McAuliffe, and watching it explode — shocking!

John Hyde ’65 Pensacola, Florida

My most memorable space event has to be “man walking on the moon” in July 1969. All eyes were glued to the TV in the wee hours of the morning. The telecast was so spectacular and unbelievable. It was heart-palpitating.

My wife, Donna Ross, was then the president and chief executive officer of the Florida Attractions Association. One of her member organizations was the Astronaut Hall of Fame. John Glenn, when he was a senator, took a flight in space, and when he got back all of the living astronauts had a dinner for him. My wife was invited, and I got to go along. They had a receiving line, and I got to shake hands with the astronauts, including Neil Armstrong. The highlight of the evening was I got to spend 20 minutes talking with Walter Cronkite. That was a big deal.

In the spring of 1961, I was finishing up my freshman year at Ripon. One April evening, hours past midnight, I was alone in the basement of Shaler Hall typing up a long paper due the next day, my radio on to keep me awake. When the news came on, I learned for the first time that the Russians had just launched a man, Yuri Gagarin, into space. I was quite moved to think that a man was all alone up there, facing dangers never before confronted, perhaps thinking he might possibly be lost in space forever. It didn’t matter a bit that he was Russian; he was human.

Marjorie George Williams ’64 Ocean Springs, Mississippi

I have two most memorable:

1) The first moon landing in July 1969, of course. “One small step for a man ...”

2) The Challenger explosion.

I was living in New Orleans at the time, working in my turn-key business at an apartment complex with the radio on. A maintenance supervisor was in the same apartment with me doing one of his repairs as I cleaned a carpet. Anyway, the announcer broke into the broadcast with the news of the explosion.

I remember the feeling of devastation and sadness for the astronauts.

What’s even more poignant is that the O-ring manufacturer that made the failed O-rings that caused the explosion was about a mile away, and I passed it every time I went there at the apartment complex.

So, that was kind of spooky to me, thinking I was that close to something that caused such an awful accident.

That is something I will not and cannot forget.

Overall, the space program was such an inspiration to me growing up, as my great-grandfather and grandfather were both engineers and owned their own construction company in Chicago. The technical aspect of that business led to my later career in the industrial products and service industry.

So, the space program is memorable and inspirational in many ways.

Little did I know that I would be using O-rings in valves for refineries, power plants, chemical plants, food plants, etc. — one day.

I saw all types of materials used for O-rings in different applications. I even witnessed the creation of new materials in the industry, from the two basic types of rubber used at home, cars, etc.; to Teflon, viton, kel-rez, kel-f, etc., depending on the application.

It was all fascinating to me, and I wondered at times, maybe those astronauts could have been saved with some of the material in the O-rings we were using in the above places. It was something that motivated me to prevent disasters in the valve business such as Three Mile Island and Chernobyl (nuclear accidents). We never had an accident during my time at those companies, and I was often recommending and choosing what material of O-rings to use to my mechanics in the shop. So, I took great care and went to seminars at manufacturers and trade shows to keep current with the newest technologies and materials for O-rings.

It all started with inspiration from the space ventures and my grandfather’s construction business.

The space program really made me think about all the applications in life where the technology applied.

Mike Tollifson ’82 Shepherdstown, West Virginia

My memories of Apollo 11 are both vivid and personal. My wife, Donna, and I were working for Simmonds Precision Products in Vergennes, Vermont, in 1969, and were privileged to take part in the design and execution of the fuel-gauging equipment used in the Apollo 11 spacecraft. We were both awestruck and humbled to listen to the radio broadcast of the landing, knowing that we were a part of its success.

Simmonds had the Apollo Creed posted on its bulletin boards while we were there. It went as such:

“I assemble Apollo ... I am proud ... I am the best in a nation of craftsmen ... into my hands is entrusted the lives of men ... and the pride of my country.

“Through my veins flows the blood of a hundred generations of artisans ... that built the Viking ships and the Santa Maria ... that hammered cold steel and the towering forests into wagons which crossed a continent ... that laid the keel of Old Ironsides and cast the cannons of Fort Defiance ...

“I will honor my heritage.

“Because of me, our generation will reach to the stars.

“My place in the history of man is assured.” I wonder if there are any other Ripon grads who were intimately involved with Apollo 11?

Mike Bouchette ’68 Sherwood, Wisconsin

During different times of the year, many of the planets in our solar system are visible to the naked eye. Mars is red, Jupiter and Saturn are yellow, Mercury and Venus stick close to the western horizon right around sunset or the eastern horizon near sunrise.

The planets and other objects in the solar system are celebrated in a Planet Walk constructed along a flat, one-half mile path in the Ceresco Prairie Conservancy.

Students in Associate Professor of Art Mollie Oblinger’s Ceramics II course learned about the solar system from former Assistant Professor of Physics Leah Simon and her astronomy students, and then produced clay domes that mark locations on the walk. Each of these personal interpretations of a planet or moon is approximately 17 inches in diameter.

Astronomy students learned about different types of scale models to represent the solar system and developed their own models in which both the planet diameters and distances between planets were scaled down to comprehensible sizes.

Working in small groups, they created the website ripon.edu/planetwalk, with detailed information about each of the planets, moons and other solar system bodies represented on the Planet Walk. Each stop along the walk has its own link with fun facts and ways to visualize the immense sizes and scales represented by the planet walk.

The planetary bodies are placed along scaled-down distances they would be if the solar system were only one-half mile from the sun to Pluto. But they are not done to scaled size. If they were:

• The sun would be the size of a cantaloupe

• The Earth the size of a pinhead

• Jupiter the size of an acorn

If this scale model of the solar system were extended to the nearest star, Proxima Centauri, the model star would be located all the way in Quito, Ecuador!