Badge On The Moon

[CutiePie2000]

Originally posted by Betarulz!

5.)Finally in response to those who don't believe there are city ordinances restricting the # of people who can live together I submit two articles from last springs Daily Nebraskan that showcase the situation 5 female Nebraska students found themselves in last spring. Story #1 Story #2

The city ordinance restricts more than three unrelated people from living in the same house. None of those laws call women co-habitating a "brothel".

[DeltAlum]

Betarulz,

Thanks for the update. My comment about the badge surviving a reentry was in pure jest -- just as the rest of that post was. Which is probably why it ticked off some of the folks who believe the "badge on the moon" legend.

Glad to hear the Carpenter stuff. Memory fails after this long. I do personally know some of Carpenters Delt brothers from his time on the CU campus, and they say he was, well, let's leave it as a "free spirit." I had started to question my memory about which flight he was on, so thanks again for clearing that up. I still like my story, because it led up to the Rolling Rock punchline.

Now, I received an e-mailed picture from Phi526 purporting to be a badge that Neil Armstrong took to the moon. The picture is very dark, so I ran it through Microsoft PictureIt and lightened it up and increased the contrast somewhat and enlarged it, which got it to the point that I could read most of it.

If the picture is legitmate -- and I have no reason to believe it isn't -- there is a Phi Delt Badge, complete with the sword guard mounted under a letter which was supposedly signed by Neil Armstrong. It appears to me that the letter says that this badge "traveled to the lunar surface" in "The Eagle" which was the name of Armstrong's lunar module -- the part of the spacecraft that made the moon landing and then, leaving it's base behind, rejoined the command module orbiting the moon. Nowhere does it say that the badge actually left the module, was attached to a flag, or was actually taken out of the capsule.

So, again assuming the legitimacy of the photo, it appears to me that Armstrong probably took the badge on the trip to the moon and back.

I suppose it's possible that the exhibit is a sham which has been pulled on the fraternity, but I don't know why anyone would do that.

I have said before on this thread, that I have no trouble at all believing that a number of Greeks who have served as Astronauts decided to take their badges along with them. It's just this "badge attached to the flag on the moon" garbage that makes me rile a bit.

For what it's worth.

[cash78mere]

Originally posted by DeltAlum
I have said before on this thread, that I have no trouble at all believing that a number of Greeks who have served as Astronauts decided to take their badges along with them. It's just this "badge attached to the flag on the moon" garbage that makes me rile a bit.

bingo. you hit the nail on the head, deltalum.

about the picture--it was so dark i could barely read it and i'm definitely not as technologically advanced as you!

when i get an email back from phi delt nationals, hopefully it will be the end all and be all.

[cash78mere]

got the reply! here it is:

************************************************** *
The pin in our library here at Phi Delta Theta Headquarters is no urban legend. I will quote the letter that is signed by Neil Armstrong and displayed with his Phi Delta Theta badge. From the National Aeronautics and Space Administration in Washington, DC., "This badge of the Phi Delta Theta Fraternity was placed aboard the Apollo 11 and carried to the surface of the moon by the lunar module "Eagle" on mankind's first lunar landing, July 20, 1960." Neil A. Armstrong, Command Pilot. The part of the story you mentioned about him pinning it onto the flag is incorrect, of course, but he did, indeed, take the badge with him on Apollo 11. As a side note, we also have a pair of tiny flags, one U.S. and one Phi Delta Theta, which Neil Armstrong took with him in March of 1966 aboard the Gemini VIII, during the first docking of two spacecraft. Let us know if we can answer any other questions for you. One of our staff members is a Chi Omega and has been advisor to the Chi Omega chapter at Miami U. She might also be able to help you with these types of questions. Good luck with your endeavors.

Laurie Rosenberger
Assistant to the Executive Vice President
***********************************************
back to me.....
people get so wrapped up in themselves and their org that they stretch the truth and make perfectly valid (and kinda cool) information and stretch it to the unbelievable. as both DeltAlum and i have said, it's not the fact that a pin was on the moon, it that people have INSISTED that it was/is PINNED up there, taken off, worn while Neil Armstrong danced the jig, etc. gosh, the next thing people are going to insist is that there was an initiation held up there during one of the missions.

let's stop the bragging and focus on spreading the TRUTH. think about things LOGICALLY.

so, congrats to you phi delt!

[DeltAlum]

That's a good story that any Greek should be proud of -- especially the Phi Delts. Thanks to Phi526 and Cash78Mere for the evidence -- and to Betarulz for the most interesting research.

[AlphaSigOU]

Originally posted by cash78mere
...Going on the Apollo 12 moon flight in Nov. will be Lt. Col. Richard F. Gordon Jr. whose wife is Barbara Field Gordon, Univ. of Washington. Barbara was pictured in the winter 1966-67 LYRE after Astronaut Gordon had flown on Gemini Two.

Good info, cash78mere, only one correction (unrepentant space buff that I am ) to set the record straight :

Richard Gordon actually flew on Gemini XI (Gemini flight numbers were always in Roman numerals except for the first three missions) with Charles 'Pete' Conrad, and later flew the command module Yankee Clipper while fellow crewmen Conrad and Alan Bean landed on the Moon during the Apollo 12 mission aboard the lunar module Intrepid. BTW, Gordon was a Navy commander (both the Gemini XI and Apollo 12 crews were all-Navy).

Gemini 2 was an unmanned space flight test of the Gemini capsule. It later became the first space capsule to be reused (and this was long before the Space Shuttle), becoming the 'Blue Gemini' space capsule for the U.S. Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory flight test.

Hope this helps.

[cash78mere]

Originally posted by AlphaSigOU


Good info, cash78mere, only one correction (unrepentant space buff that I am ) to set the record straight :

Richard Gordon actually flew on Gemini XI (Gemini flight numbers were always in Roman numerals except for the first three missions) with Charles 'Pete' Conrad, and later flew the command module Yankee Clipper while fellow crewmen Conrad and Alan Bean landed on the Moon during the Apollo 12 mission aboard the lunar module Intrepid. BTW, Gordon was a Navy commander (both the Gemini XI and Apollo 12 crews were all-Navy).

Gemini 2 was an unmanned space flight test of the Gemini capsule. It later became the first space capsule to be reused (and this was long before the Space Shuttle), becoming the 'Blue Gemini' space capsule for the U.S. Air Force's Manned Orbiting Laboratory flight test.

Hope this helps.

alphasig-

cool info
i copied that directly from the article that was sent to me that was published in the old LYRE. being as i know nothing about space, i can only assume that since the article was published before the flight, maybe things changed? i don't know!

[AlphaSigOU]

Not a problem there, cash78mere. Just clarifying a few things, is all. But it was a good article you posted, nevertheless.

On a similar but unrelated point, being also a Mason, I'm proud to be a charter member of the future Masonic lodge on the Moon (though it'll probably happen well after my lifetime). Here's the story behind it:

During the Apollo 11 flight to the Moon, astronaut Edwin (Buzz) Aldrin (he later legally changed his name to Buzz Aldrin only) carried a special deputation fron the then-Grand Master of Masons of Texas, J. Guy Smith and instructed to make 'due return of his actions'. This was basically a paper signed and sealed by the Grand Master deputizing Brother Aldrin (a member of Clear Lake Lodge No. 1417 near Houston, Texas) as a special representative of the Grand Master. Brother Aldrin took the document in his personal preference kit to the moon and returned it, certifying that the document traveled to the Moon and back. (The special deputation is now on display at the Grand Lodge of Texas Library and Museum in Waco, Texas.)

Technically, this made the Moon a Masonic jurisdiction of the Grand Lodge of Texas. In December 1999, at the meeting of the Grand Lodge, and to commemorate the 30th anniversary of the moon landing, they created a special lodge of the Grand Lodge of Texas named Tranquility Lodge No. 2000. This lodge is open for membership to Master Masons who belong to a grand lodge in fraternal relations to the Grand Lodge of Texas.

More information on Tranquility Lodge #2000 is at http://www.tranquilitylodge2000.org .

[AlphaSigOU]

Originally posted by Discogoddess
I stand corrected. Soror Jemison, on her web site (www.maejemison.com), only mentions that she went into space on the shuttle Endeavor. I do know, however, that wherever she went in space, she took an AKA flag with her. Not sure if this was while she was in the cabin, working outside the cabin, or whatever. Just know that she did it, and we're tickled about it.

Astronauts are permitted to carry what is known as a 'personal preference kit' (PPK) containing personal items of a sentimental nature to the astronaut. After the Apollo 15 PPK fiasco (in which a whole bunch of flown covers (stamped envelopes postmarked with launch day and landing day postmarks) appeared in a philatelic auction shortly after the mission)did NASA severely restrict the quantity and type of items an astronaut could carry into space.

Generally, PPKs are not opened during the flight, but the contents are listed in the crew's manifest.

In this case, Soror Jemison probably included an inscription or an affidavit on NASA letterhead to include with the flag stating (for example) "this flag was flown aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour on mission STS-XX (dates of mission)". Without the letter and/or the authentic signature of Soror Jemison, the flag would not have 'provenance' as a flown item. Some will include a picture taken during the mission of the item as further proof that it was flown.

[GeekyPenguin]

Why worry about your badge going to space when instead you can have your sisters go?

[Tom Earp]

OMG, everyone had thier Badges taken to outer space or placed on the moon!

Just seach and find out how many went! There was a LXA from the U. Mo. who was there!

So big deal!

No, there were things that were smuggled aboard the space flights in small amounts that would mean something to people of the Family in one form or another when they returned!

Had to be small and was given to them for personel things to do. Some made it into a big deal! Business!

[AlphaSigOU]

During the Gemini 3 mission (unofficially called Molly Brown after the popular Broadway play and film, and alluding to commander Gus Grissom's near-death experience when his Mercury capsule sank) pilot John Young snuck a corned beef sandwich from a local Cocoa Beach deli aboard the spacecraft as a prank on Grissom, who was fond of them. (Back then, space food was prepared under strictly controlled conditions and was, to say the least, not very appetizing.)

Once Molly Brown was in orbit, Young reaches into his spacesuit pocket and offers the sandwich to Grissom, with the remark, "Care to have a bite, skipper?" Grissom did take a bite of the sandwich but didn't finish it off, due to concerns that floating crumbs might clog up a vital electrical contact of the spacecraft's instrumentation.

When they returned to Earth, both Young and Grissom were reprimanded by NASA management, and the half of Grissom's sandwich (with the single bite by Grissom) was reportedly preserved for eternity in Lucite by Young.

[KillarneyRose]

Originally posted by AXWhoah
Does it really matter?? Does anything on greekchat matter, no. It's just a place to shoot the s@*t, nothing here matters. If you think that anything here matters you're kidding yourself. And honestly what is with the old people here. I'm pretty sure that when I'm middle aged I will have a job and, um, a life! I just come on here now cause I'm stuck here in Tucson for summer school, it cuts the boredom. Seriouslly, grow up and get a life....

-- Throwing hissy fits on GreekChat since 6/02

[AOcutiePi4ever]

Originally posted by DeltAlum
OP,

See, here's what happened. You were right, in a way.

It was pinned to the flag on the moon, but the Lunar Winds blew it off.

Then a later astronaut accidentally kicked it up in the air, where, being so small, the moon's gravity wasn't enough to hold it down, so it floated off into space.

After several years of floating, it re-entered the earth's atmosphere, again, being so well constructed and small, it didn't burn up.

It landed in the Australian Outback, where it was found and picked up by a freelance production assistant on a Crockodile Dundee movie who took it to the Sydney Olympics and traded it to a pin collector, who couldn't read the Greek Alphabet, and was dissapointed when he found out it didn't belong to the Serbo-Croation Olympic Bobsled team (who somehow ended up in the Summer Games by mistake -- but due to a lack of competition, won a Bronze Medal) and then listed it on E-Bay.

Unfortunatley, it was purchased by a Veterinary Dentist who didn't realize what he had and melted down for use as a doggy filling.

It is now in somebody's pet's bicuspid -- somewhere in Cleveland, I think.

Doesn't that sound reasonable? At least as reasonable as pinning a sorority pin on a flag in those space suit gloves.

LOLOLOL!!! that cracked me up!! that was great!!

[33girl]

This is the real reason W wants to have missions to Mars!!! He talks to AXWhoah frequently and after he heard this oh so true and substantiated story, he was soooooooo jealous that AXO's pin is on the moon, so he is going to go one better by flying Laura and the twins to Mars. But they will all have to take individual spaceships because of the intergalactic brothel laws.