GOLDEN MEMORIES
Moon landing inspired many to pursue space, science careers
Life on Earth came to a standstill when man first stepped on the moon.
Astronauts Neil Armstrong, Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin and Michael Collins were fulfilling the vision laid out by President John F. Kennedy in his inaugural address in 1961 when they reached the moon July 20, 1969.
The largest television audience for a live broadcast at the time — 500 million people worldwide — tuned in, and held their collective breath as Armstrong, then Aldrin, stepped onto the surface of the moon. Astronaut Neil Armstrong is reflected in the helmet visor of Buzz Aldrin on the surface of the moon, July 20, 1969. The astronauts had cameras mounted to the front of their suits to take pictures.
Fifty years later, many still vividly recall watching the events unfold. The historic mission inspired some to pursue a life of exploration and discovery themselves.
Here are some of their stories:
Longing for adventure
Kathy Sullivan was glued to the television the night Armstrong and Aldrin stepped on the moon.
“You could not pull me away,” she said.
Sullivan, then 17, had always hungered for adventure. But, sitting wide-eyed in front of the screen, she would never have guessed that in less than 10 years, these space pioneers would be her colleagues.
In 1978, Sullivan was selected for NASA as a mission specialist. Six years later, in 1984, she made history herself by becoming the first American woman to walk in space.
It was the pinnacle of a tenacious and illustrious career spent on three space shuttle missions, presidential commissions and, from 1996 to 2005, in Columbus as COSI’S president and CEO.
“Seeing the Earth from orbit was for me a sort of lifetime fulfillment,” said Sullivan, who lives on the Far North Side.
Sullivan studied foreign language at William Howard Taft High School in Los Angeles — becoming fluent in French and German — and planned to travel to understand the world’s countries and cultures. By the end of her freshman year of college at University of California, Santa Cruz, she had changed her major to Earth Sciences to become a geographer and oceanographer.
It wasn’t until graduate school at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia that space exploration became a consideration.
“I felt a deep longing that I would really love my life to have this kind of quest, this expedition, this adventure of discovery,” said Sullivan, who will appear Saturday for a sold-out conversation at the Ohio History Center during a moon landing celebration.
Sullivan, now 67, crossed paths with Aldrin, Armstrong and Collins quite often throughout her career. Sullivan has even gone scuba diving with Aldrin.
Getting to know them personally means she sees these American giants for who they really are: humble men who rose to extraordinary heights.
“They pulled it off with tremendous class and skill and charm,” she said. “They are all three very genuine, solid human beings; they’re just guys who got to do this extraordinary thing.”
‘We made it’
Watching the newscast of the moon landing is one of Mike Dickens’ earliest memories.
When a 5-year-old Dickens plopped down in front of his television at his 16-year-old sister’s behest, he quickly become captivated.
“I can remember it like it was yesterday,” said Dickens, now 55. “At some point and fashion it certainly laid the foundation of being interested in science.”
When he left his home to study microbiology and biochemistry at Ohio State University, he became the first in his family to attend college.
After a short stint with a pharmaceutical company in New Jersey, Dickens spent the past 17 years at Battelle, the international research organization with headquarters near the University District. These days, the Westerville resident is a senior research leader who has, for instance, led a team that built software for the U.S. government that screens bits of DNA to determine whether they belong to dangerous genetic sequences.
Spearheading such prestigious advancements hasn’t erased his sense of awe of that July day 50 years ago. He still keeps news clippings from the momentous milestone in his home, along with G.I. Joe toys released by Hasbro around the time.
What would his first words had been if he’d taken the first lunar steps?
“My God, we made it.”
A drive to explore
Leonard Sparks has created space travel simulations for COSI Columbus that apparently convinced youngsters they were in orbit.
For a late-1980s traveling exhibit called “Mission to Mars,” children would take on the various roles assigned to crew members as they “piloted” a shuttle to the Red Planet.
“A couple times I scared children because they actually thought they were leaving the planet,” said Sparks who, with 38 years of experience, is COSI’S longest-tenured team member.
The simulation was as close as the 63-year-old ever got to experiencing life in outer space after being enraptured by the moon landing as a young boy.
An eighth-grader in Oklahoma City at the time, Sparks watched the broadcast with his family from launch to touchdown.
The adventurous spirits of the astronauts resonated with Sparks, who is inquisitive by nature.
After earning his master’s degree in political science from Ohio State University, he went on to work in various roles at COSI. It’s a job that allowed him to form a friendship with John Glenn, another legendary astronaut who, in 1962, became the first American to orbit Earth.
“This drive to explore, to go to other places, it fascinated me,” Sparks said. “The whole idea of having to overcome gravity and stay up there without falling out of the sky, it helped make some connections with me. It was intriguing.”
Setting a course
In 1998, a field of 5,000 aspiring astronauts had been whittled down to 120 candidates, and John Horack was among them.
“I made it through the world’s longest doctor’s appointment,” Horack, now 54, said of his weeklong physical and psychological assessment in Houston.
He’d been interested in science and space travel since age 4, when he watched the Saturn V crew reach the moon from his home in St. Louis, Missouri. He followed NASA as