The Russell Street Review By the Brothers of Eambda Iota of Phi Gamma Delta December 14, 1972 Fiji on the Moon At the time of this writing Gene Cernan {'56) is on the Apollo 17 mission. On November 24 we were able to have a telephoQG conversation with Brother Cernan. Our graduate kegger was held the night of the blast-off and we really enjoyed watching it on television. l¥e thought you might be interested in the content of our conversation 'with Gene Cernan. Are there going to be any special commemorations for this being the final Apollo mission? Every lunar module had a plaque on the landing strip right next to the ladder. They've all been the same with the excep tion of Apollo II, and they've all just had the names of the spacecraft and the crew of the particular flight. But Apollo II ha«i a unique one which had the names and signatures of the crew and the President and the words, "Vi/e came in peace for all mankind." l/Ve're going to have a similar plaque on ours, so that is one way of commemorating the fact that ours is the last flight. The inscription on it basically acknowledges ti.e fact that man has completed these initial steps in the exploration of outer space and in particular, the moon. It also says that we hope we have come in peace for all mankind and that we certainly hope to return in peace for all mankind, possibly as a unified world and not just as an individual nation. How do you feel about your preparation and do you expect any emotional let-downs during the flight? No, no emotional let-downs, V^Je, of course, have been training for the flight for several years in back-up crews in one place or another, and on ,this -particular flight I guess we've been assigned for a year to a year and one half. I think i t ' l l be emotional build-ups, one right after the other, because each part of the flight only gains importance when the previous step is completed. Landing on the moon is something to look forward to, but until you can get through the landing phase and into earth orbit, and then into what 'we call the trans-lunar injection phase which is another important burn on the booster, it has little importance. So you don't really have much of a chance to relax or sleep during the flight, do you? No, no, you really don't. Maybe I'll have some advantage on my two crewmates because I've been there before and I know what to expect in terms of sleeping and so forth. You have to gat accustomed to sleeping in zero "Gs", and, of course, the emotion, and tension, and the excitement that goes along with it just makes it a little bit more difficult sometimes, but I don't really think we'll have any problems 'vivith it. You don't really get the real solid night of good sleep until, you're on the way home, with a feeling that you've accomplished most of what you wanted to. Do you expect any major finds during this mission? We're going to probably one of the most unique landing \r\nareas. It is pretty much surrounded by mountains, and it ought to by a very challenging place to.even consider landing in. Geologically, there are some potentially interesting prospects of putting the entire lunar chronolgical history in order, with a possibility of finding samples that date back to over four million years. Maybe to some degree, the information found in other flights can be taken, and we can get a pretty good chrono logical history of the moon with the outlook, of course, of better understanding the evolution and the chronological history of our own earth. We micht better be able to understand i t and better be able to predict some of the things that are happening within our own environment—everyting from earthquakes to the atmosphere. We might fjust better be able to make the earth a little bit better place to live. What do you think about the future of NASA after this flight? I think it's got a great future. Let's not just talk about NASA, but about the human being, about man in space. We've given man the challenge of finding something so unknown, the challenge to open up a whole new area for his quest for knowledge, that mankind—you, me, and generations to follow us,--could never turn their backs on i t . I don't think there's any question but that we're going back to the moon. I think we're going to places like Mars and Venus, and that we'll xxplore the whole solar system. It may not be next year or the year after, or it may not even be in ten years. It'll be slow until this shuttle program gets really geared up and flying near the end of the 70's. As we go into the 70's, and the 80's, and the fO's, and into the turn of the contury, I think that we'll be seeing things that you and I never dreamed of. I don't think that Man can say no to the excitement, romance, the adventure, much less the opportunity to better himself with things he can yet conceive of. At Pig Dinner last year you brought up some ideas about feeling closer to God up in flight. Could you relate your feelings on that for us? Well, you know, alot of people ask you if you feel closer to God when you're in space 100 miles above the earth or whether you feel closer to Him a quarter of a million miles away. I guess my answer to that has always baen no. I think you can feel as close to God, whatever that God may mean to you, whoever that God may be to you, and whatever God you believe in, as you want to--you may be here on earth in church or in space. You know, the Russians said they went up into space and they didn't see God, and therefore it proves there is no God. I've been there, and I've got to" admit I didn't see Him either. The difference is that when you get a quarter of a million miles out into space, and then you look back at out earth. You look at the perfection of it, the beauty of it when you can see from the icecaps of the North Pole to the snowcapped mountains of the south, and you can see across oceans and continents. Our earth is moving through this infinity of time and space with logic, and perfection, and order that couldn't have happened by accident. I'ne never been a big religious man on one hand, but on the other hand, I've always had faith that there's someone bigger than you and I. After seeing our world from 250,000 miles away, there's no doubt in my mind. Do you believe that there is life on other planets or that we are being "visited"by beings from other planets? Vi'ell, I don,'t know if we are geing visited by beings from other planets--I have no proof, I have never really seen anybody. You read all kinds of articles, Lut I just don't know, I have no proof. On the other hand, I certainly can't deny it. \r\nMy feeling about life on other planets is^ yes— I do be lieve there's life on other planets. If you look at it purely statistically and if you consider how small our earth is and how many similar earths, and suns, and stars there are in the universe, then if there's one planet with life on it, then in an infinite world there should be an infinity of other mankinds. You can look at it again just from a theological point of view. If you have any belief in the fact that there's a supreme being that I mentioned before, who is really behind creating us all, then I guess I'll ask why should we be so egotistical to believe that He only created one such earth when He has the power to create many such earths with many such types of life. Another question that was raised at Pig Dinner concerned the possibility of you sketching "FIJI" on the moon. Just how possible would this be? I'd love to and there's nothing better I'd love to do, but as close as I feel to the Fijis and as proud as I am to be a Fiji, I've had a million requests like that. I can think of no better way to end my career in the space program than to start sketching names in the moon. Let me put it this way, if I could do it, I would do it, but I wouldn't be able to tell anybody. Do you have any other comments you would like to make? I want you to feel as much a part of this as I am for a number of reasons. I guess it's because I feel that way about the whole country and the people who make it all possible. There are certain groups of people that I feel a little bit closer to than others, and the Fijis of Lam'txia. Iota and the world are probably closer to me than lots of other people. If there's some way I can vicariously take you with me so that I can share the excitement, and the pride, and the accomplishment, and the adventure, then I ask you to come along. I hope that throughout the flight, and possibly even when I get back if I get a chance to get up there, that I can share some of the experiences with you. I hope to make you feel a part of what really belongs to you as much as it does to me, because this is history that we are both living now, not some thing we've read about that happened a hundred years ago or a thousand years ago. It's something, I think, we all have a right to be a part of and share in, I'm hoping I can give you guys a little bit of what I have in terms of experiences, if not during the flight, certainly after I get back. Fi.ii's Serving The Communitv Coming together is a beginning' Keeping together is progress vv'orking together is success Another example of Phi's services to the community took place on Friday, November 17, the annual FIJI-THETA LEAF RAKE. By November 1? just about any leaf that had any intention of falling had already done so. The neighbors had been informed two weeks in advance by Gary Richert, social service chairman, not to rake any of their leaves and were at the same time in vited for dinner at Phi Gam house for the evening of the At 25 00, on the afternoon of the 17th Russell joined forces with the Theta's. Together we manned the rakes, raked the entire block that the Fiji house sits on along with the homes on the Theta's block, and of course the Fiji and Theta houses. V\fe were greeted at one home with cookies and hot choco late which was certainly appreciated as the temperature that afternoon was 33 • Mrs. Lody was on the scene during the raking of her home, demonstrating her supervisory talents. At the end of the day, the neighbors all came to the Phi Gam house for a dinner of hamburgers and hot dogs. The even ing of informal dining was not only an enjoyable one for the brothers getting a chance to talk with our neighbors, but an organized opportunity for the neighbors themselves to get to gether. \r\nEverything and all was a complete success, which I suppose goes to prove my tenet. Working together is success. TELL THE GANG THAT . . . Joseph W. Yant ('28), recently retired engineer for Ameri can Gil Company, lives in Corpis, Wyoming during the summer and fall and spends the winter in California. Bernie Shearon ('31), retired from Standard Oil Company the First of November, 1972. He and his wife, Eileen, moved back to Coral Gables in December, and are enjoying life in the Sunshine State. His wife is active in volunteer work. Son, Capt. Bernard is now stationed at Westover AFB, Mass, and daughter Margaret Shearon Levis (Purdue '64) is studying for her PhD in Education at Harvard, Cyrus Brown Aldinger ('31), is now retired, living in Grosse Pointe Woods, Michigan. Robert Jeffery Covert ('31), is now the director of en gineering for the Bowes Seal Fast Corporation in Indianapolis, Indiana. He and his wife, another Purdue graduate, have two sons. Edwin Averell Warren ('32), Aerinca, Inc. in Middletown, Ohio. is a group vice-president for He has three children. Richard Howell Peirce ('33), is now chairman of the board of the Peirce Construction Company in Holland, Ohio. He has four children. Bill Covert ('34), is "retired and enjoying it," in Glenview, 111. His oldest son, graduate of Purdue, Lambda Iota, is now assistant Superintendent of International Harvester. Steve, his youngest son is a P.U. Lambda Iota in Japan with U.S.N. Anti Submarine Warfare group. He will return to Purdue in Jan., 1973. William Clarke Mirin ('35), is a chemical engineer for the Eastman Kodak Company. He lives in Pittsford, New York and has two children, Wendell Compton ('3^), is living in Elkhart, Indiana where he is Vice-President--Engineering with Miles Laboratories Inc. Two of his three children are now married, John Kany ('37), who retired in 1967, and his wife, are kept busy traveling and making plans for their new home in Arizona. John now lives in Dearborn, Michigan where he keeps busy repairing cars. Mrs. Kany teaches ballroom dancing for Ford Motor Recreation, William Herbert Smith ('39), is in the marketing staff of the Eastman Kodak Company in Rochester, New York, Dr. Lewis Everrett Morrison ('40), is now associate professor of atorhinolaryngology at the Indiana University School of Medicine, He and his wife, also a 1940 grad, have five children, Stephen A, Minton, Jr. ('42), is now employed by the Kaiser Trailing Company in Lafayette, California. Tom Graham ('42), is vice-^pres'ident of Graham Farms Inc. He's residing in Washington, Indiana, was a Fiji here and Graduated in '70. One of his sons, Tom Jr., Charles David Sursa ('46), is now chairman'and president of the Industrial Trust & Savings Bank in Muncie, Indiana, Carl Edward Everly ('48),. is now Vice-president of Mohawk Flush Doors, Inc. He lives in South Bend, Indiana with hisVwife, also a Purdue Graduate and his four children. Hugh V/oolverton, Jr. ('49), is the director of purchasing for the Kawneer Company, Inc. in Niles, Michigan, Phil Salzman ('53),is presently the Deputy Program Manager for Fiscal Administration for Naval Air Systems Command. He, his wife, two sons and daughter live in Fairfax, Va. (outside Washington, D.C.), One of his sons, Dave, is with us in the class of 1976. Richard Graeme Supple ('54), is chief engineer for Bridges & Boxton, five He lives in Albuquerque, New Mexico with his wife and children. V^illiam n/ard Smith ('55), is now a vice-president of the Rocket Research Corporation. He lives in Bellvue, Vv'ashington and has two children. Michael Gray Levitt ('59), is now a personnel planner for J.C. Penney, and lives in Freehold, New Jersey. young children. He has three \r\nV^illiam G, Haney ('60), is busy moving from Chicago to Columbus, Indiana. William is a sales manager for the automotive division of Cummins Engine Co. His three sons are now 8, 7 and 3 years old. At a recent Homecoming game, Bill had the pleasure of running into three of his pledge brothers. Paul Henderson ('6l),is a management consultant for McKinney and Company in London, England. Paul still enjoys visiting the pubs and playing golf. He is planning a golfing expedition to Scotland in the near future. Bill Brock ('63), has been recently promoted to Eastern Regional Sales Manager for A. G, Becker & Co. He and his family live in Bronxville, N.Y. His wife (Barbara Keenan Brock—P.U. KAG, '63) had a baby boy on November 26, 1972, Keenan Frederick. They have two other children, Melinda (4) and Martha (2). Bill got his MBA in Finance from Univ. of California at Berkeley, and has been with A. G. Becker, an investment banking firm, since then. John Curdes Lillich ('63), is now a project manager for the Dow Chemical Corporation in Hong Kong. He has three children. Thomas Ailbe Burke ('65), is now working as a manager for the Mutual Life Insurance Company of New York in St, Paul, Minne sota. He has three small children. Frank C. Watson ('67), is kept busy managing the Drug Store and Clothing Store which he owns in Greenville, Illinois. The store specializes in childrens' wear which will come in handy for Chad, the family's newest addition, who is one year old, Peter William Bird (*68), V\?estinghouse in Largo, Florida, is now associate engineer with He is married and has two young sons. Lyman V\fible (*68), is living in Madison, Wise., where he is currently the Planning Anayst for the "Wisconsin State Dept. of Natural Resources, Lyman received his M.S. in Engineering ('70) and his M.S. in Water Resources Management ('7l)» both at Univ. of Wisconsin. He and his wife, Lyn, went to Germany, where he had a Fullbright-DAAD Fellowship to study Water Resources Manage ment in the Ruhr River Area. They were there for about 9 months. Bill Hufford ('69), is living in Orlando, Florida. He is an instructor at the Florida Technological University. He and his wife, Colleen, are enjoying the sunshine of Florida. David William Mohr ('70), is presently working as a research chemist for Cooper Industrial Products in Auburn, Indiana. He is married to a Purdue graduate and has two young children.