Vol. 67, No. 1 July 4, 1969 LIFE CONTENTS EDITORS' NOTE Column 2b Billy in the Garden. By Barry Farrell The man behind Reviews 8-13 Book: The Immortalist, by Alan Harrington, the glass mask reviewed by Webster Schott Music: Johnny Winter, reviewed by Life's coverage of the aslronauls began more than 10 years ago with Albert Goldman Movie: Three New Juveniles, reviewed by the seleetion of the original seven-man Mercury team. Today, 20flights Richard Schickel and splashdowns later, man is at last prepared for the moon landing Poetry: Elizabeth Bishop, reviewed by he has speculated about for centuries. Hundreds of pages in many is Charles Elliott sues of the magazine have been filled with this great continuing ad venture—its speetacnlar views, its superb teclmology, accounts of the Letters to tlie EditiSts' 16a missions by tiie astronauts themselves. In this special issue before the flight of Apollo 11, our lead story is devoted to the crew— The Moon Ground 16c Armstrong, Aldrin and Collins—and it contains a personal portraitof A poem by James Dickey each man by three members of onr staff, Dora Jane Hamblin, Gene Farmer and David Nevin. Hamblin and Farmer have covered the as Three Men Bound for the Moon 16d Neil Armstrong refuses to "waste any tronauts before, hut for Nevin it was heartbeats." By Dora Jane Hamblin a new experience. Buzz Aldrin has "the best scientific mind we have Asked for his own impressions af sent into space." By Gene Farmer ter undertaking this assignment, Mike Collins has cool to cope with space and the Nevin wrote: "Until 1 met one, the Easter bunny. By David Nevin imaseO of the astronaut that came al- Mission Profile 30 waysto my mind'seyewasofthe man In a painting, the flight of Apollo 11 from launch to in space, floating rigid, his metallic lunar touchdown suit inflated, his arms stiff as a doll's arms, his face covered with black glass Grip on the Tides 32 through which the camera cannot see. The beauty of seascapes tossed and sculpted by 1 saw the faceless man ivho does the the pull of the moon. Photographed by George Silk incredible by a marvelous hut not DAVID iNEVIN quite human feat of engineering rote. Tidal Creatures 43 "Like so many fixed ideas, mine was silly. 1went to Mike Collins' Their very lives depend on the moon . iiduse on a blazing Sunday afternoon. The Houston air was wet and heavy hnt the yard was shaded by live oak trees; the grass needed cut- Goodby, Old Moon 46 •jijTg, Xrang the hell and then Collins opened the door. He was yv ear A wry and affectionate remembrance of what it used to be. By Paul O'Neil ing jeans cut off at the knees and sandals and one of those nondescript shirts that menrefuse to throw away. We shook handsin the hard mil The Lunar Laboratory 50 itary way and he gave me a beer. When they come back, the astronauts and their "We talked for two hours. 1 knew something about him already. moon samples will be sealed off in a new $8.5 He was an Army hrat and had grown up on military posts, and so had million complex in Houston. A close watch on the 1. He had started in fighters, which 1 also understood. Soon he had men and their prizes. By Dora Jane Hamblin the pilsner glass, drained of beer for the purpose, cocked up on its side to illustrate the spacecraft's docking collar, and 1 could see A Letter from Lindbergh 60a Before the Apollo mission—and 42 years after his him 10 years earlier using both hands, palms down, s\v inging yv ildly he- own historic flight-Charles Lindbergh writes a fore him to demonstrate how tYvo fighter aircraft Yvould jockey for the message killing position. Miscellany "Yet themind he brings to space travel is subtle and penetrating. 62 He dismissed the old saw about the merit ofsending a poet into space to tell us what it really is like: a nice idea hut the poet Yvouldn't sur vive, nor would the mission. And then we talked about fear and cour age fatalism and confidence, man's relation to his machine and to Iiim'self. We came finally to the mystical fact that there are men who do the extraordinary, and if they cannot speeifically artic&late their rea- sons, still it is plain they do not do itbecause they are without nerves COVER-HENRY GROSKINSKY exc. insert RALPH MORRF .»« STEPHEN A. ARMSTRONG-courtesy THE COLLINS Fii^nv'^'i-BARRERA 16D-courtesy MRS or ciuinot imagine failure and death or have a simplistic faith in ma- BALTERMAN-courtesy THE ALDRIN FAMILY 18-courtesv THF ZdH'c MORSE rt LEE MRS. STEPHEN A.V ARMSTRONG 19, 20, 21-RALm21-RALPH MORSE 22 FAMILY courtesy chines. As 1 walked out of his house that afternoon, 1 knew 1 had -23,11 24, 25-LEE2';-l FF BALTERMANR4ITFPMSN 26-courtesy THEtl FTti.COLLINS MilZ2-C0Ur Bsu THETUF ALDRINAi nn, F, Y.FAMILY.., .V, 30, 31-drawing by ARTHUR LIDOV 43, 44, 45-FRITZ GORO 4K Inn 29~RALPH MORSE been with a remarkable man Yvho Yvas real and Yvarm and Yvhose face 488, 48D-BETTMANN' I ivirtmi ARCHIVErtiiuni Vc 50throughIIIluugu 54-drawings9<l-ar3WinSS bv o'oNAi^nnnWfli n IK«. 'J'lontrbKYORSHEFSKY 48 RPnrKBROCK «n4-llGOA-U.P.I.exc.p1 t. right BETTMANNpfttmanm ARCHIVEGOB«'>--VEG0B® courteTMRScourtesrMRS d'^^^'^^AY 55-DON UHr!UHR^ Yvas very clear." ROBERT H. GODDARD LIBRARY, CLARK UNIVERSITY 81 t Hdhym^^^^ 62-GEORGE silk SPECIAL ISSUE Off to the Moon f ?V ? f First Man To Walk There, IP'V and the Crew That Will Make History Lunar Grip NEIL ARMSTRONG on the Tides So Long to the Old Lore A Message from Charles Lindbergh J j NN iN-n -1^13 AilVNia313A DOT JULY 4 • 1969 • 404 tn te ® QTvnoo ac TO TS SSIUOOOOOO bin blAON.