An all-star gathering of legendary American astronauts appeared in Cleveland August 29, 2008, to celebrate NASA's 50th anniversary. John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth; Neil Armstrong, the first person to walk on the Moon; Jim Lovell, veteran of two Apollo missions; and Kathryn Sullivan, the first woman to walk in space, joined 15 other astronauts from Ohio.
The Ohio aerospace community hosted the event to celebrate 50 years of NASA innovation, inspiration, and discovery, the achievements of NASA's Glenn Research Center, and to salute Ohio's astronauts. Glenn, a former Ohio senator, was the honorary chairman of the event; veteran NBC News space correspondent Jay Barbaree, the only journalist to cover every manned space launch in the United States, was the keynote speaker.
Barbaree moderated "A Conversation with the Astronauts," during which the 19 astronauts in attendance reminisced about their spaceflight experiences. When asked about the courage it takes to be an astronaut, Lovell referred to the Apollo 13 mission that almost ended in disaster. "Sometimes when confronted with a problem that has no immediate solution, you must either summon the courage to continue or you're lost."
Dr. Woodrow Whitlow, director of NASA Glenn, was delighted to be among Ohio's most accomplished citizens. "I feel extremely lucky, as a boy from the suburbs of Detroit, to be able to sit at a table with the commander of Apollo 13, the first American to orbit Earth and the first man to set foot on the Moon."
An all-star gathering of legendary American astronauts appeared in Cleveland, Ohio, Aug. 29, 2008, to celebrate NASA's 50th anniversary. (Click image to enlarge)
