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Old 02-16-2018, 11:57 PM
Vern Vern is offline
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Default Neil Armstrong at Estes Rocket Launch

Sometimes we open up our email box and find an unexpected and pleasant surprise. The recent email I received from Herman Henie in part read, “Please go to my YouTube page and you will find my video of Neil Armstrong and myself, Herman Heine, launching off Estes rockets in our neighborhood”. Herman, now a brick mason, indicated he first began flying Estes model rockets in 1968.

A couple of emails later, Herman provided a more detailed description:

“This video was taken in October 1997 at Cleves park in Cleves Ohio. I was working on Mr. Armstrong’s home at the time, and my son Adam wrote him a letter to come to our rocket launch, and he gladly accepted the invitation. On the day of the event the boys brought their rockets to school and told their teachers that they were going to launch off rockets after school at the park with Neil Armstrong. The teachers did not believe them but came to the park anyway. Mr. Armstrong and I arrived at the park about one hour before the boys came. We were setting up the area and were able to talk about how he got interested in flight. He told me he would build control line planes with the money he made from odd jobs. And then got his pilot’s license before he could drive. I told him that I delivered newspapers after school and all the money I earned, I bought Estes rocket kits from my local hobby shop. I built many rockets from the Scout to Big Bertha to the Saturn V.”

“We had a great time that day. It was a dream come true for me, but for the boys, they were just glad to be launching off rockets. The Apollo days were history to them and being with Neil Armstrong was something that just did not sink in at the time. Many of my scouts became Eagle Scouts and they look back at the event now and realize how special it was.”

In the attached video, Neil Armstrong is wearing a yellow hat. The guy in the black hat is Herman Heine.

I wish I could have been there! -- Vern

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mzY...bBcWz6A&index=2
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Last edited by Vern : 02-17-2018 at 11:00 PM.
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Old 02-17-2018, 02:43 AM
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What a cool story! Thanks, Vern!
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Old 02-17-2018, 08:25 AM
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Thanks for sharing that story! And thanks Mr. Henie for paying it forward to those boys!

edit: I love how Mr. Armstrong kicks into "perfesser" mode and presents a lecture on propulsion...after I found out he became an Aerospace Engineering professor, I always wondered what it would be like to show up the first day of class and find out you had Neil Armstrong for your professor
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Last edited by rocketguy101 : 02-17-2018 at 09:12 AM.
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Old 02-17-2018, 08:51 AM
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They got to hang out with first of only 12 people to ever set foot on the moon. I can only imagine how I would have felt being a kid and launching rockets with him.
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Old 02-17-2018, 09:13 AM
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Vern, did you ever get to meet Mr. Armstrong? I know you've met a few astronauts, and you've inspired many to become astronauts, do you have a list of the ones you've met?
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Old 02-17-2018, 10:14 AM
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Awesome!!
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Old 02-17-2018, 11:54 AM
Vern Vern is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rocketguy101
Vern, did you ever get to meet Mr. Armstrong? I know you've met a few astronauts, and you've inspired many to become astronauts, do you have a list of the ones you've met?


David -- Yes, I've had the privilege of meeting some of the original astronauts who inspired all of us to get involved, and many of the young people they inspired to to become astronauts, then follow the original's into space. I never had the opportunity to meet Neil Armstrong. The New York Times article below tell about how he enjoyed a private life on his farm in Ohio.

http://www.nytimes.com/1994/07/20/u...-side-moon.html

Here is a further quote from Mr. Heine that fills in some detail on the story.

" Mr. Armstrong was living in my hometown area at the time of our rocket launch. He met Carol and they were married in 1994. Carol had a house in Indian Hill a town just east of Cincinnati Ohio. She was living in a big house there. Her husband died in a plane crash in Florida in 1989. Mr. Armstrong sill kept his farm in Lebanon Ohio. In 1996 they started construction of their new home in the back yard of the old one. I was able to speak to him often. He even told me about his mission on Gemini 8.
There is a book out called First Man, it is an autobiography on Neil written by James R Hansen. A good read for sure."

Sorry, I have not kept a list of astronauts I've met. -- Vern
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Last edited by Vern : 02-17-2018 at 10:56 PM.
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Old 02-19-2018, 11:24 AM
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Neil was an enthusiastic aeromodeler in his younger years all the way up to and including his time in Houston. In high school and college he competed in AMA sponsored national and international competitions. His favored event was control line speed, and some of his models are preserved in the AMA and Ohio Historical Society collections. Neil even brought some of his models to his new job with NASA but the models were lost in a house fire they had in the mid 60's. Neil was also an early member of the American Rocket Society which later became the AIAA. We should have sent him a NAR card!

On July 25, 2011 when NARAM-53 was being held near Cincinnati, he had the opportunity to examine a Team USA Junior B/G model built by Katherine Humphrey. He must have spent ten minutes looking at that very nicely constructed model and he had a ton of questions about it. Most memorably he asked "is this a kit or a scratch built model"? I think for him this was a measure of how "serious" the competition was as well as a good indicator of the modeler's workmanship. I believe he gave Katherine good marks in that department!

Katherine's model was a Bob Park's design which featured a variable camber system which was spring actuated at pod separation. Neil spent a good bit of time looking at that mechanism and was also quite interested in Bob's resume which included time with John Langford's Aurora Flight Sciences. Neil mentioned that Langford's name and Aurora were both familiar to him.

Many people on the forum might think that they are world's removed from a guy like Neil Armstrong. The reality is that since we are a community of people who love to built and watch things that fly we are much more similar than unlike him. He would have fit in well at any of our NAR launches as one of the guys.

In July, 2011 during NARAM-53 some people may have noticed an elderly gentleman in a nearby parking lot quietly watching the rockets fly. That was probably Neil Armstrong. One year and one month later he was gone and the world lost an icon.
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Old 02-19-2018, 12:32 PM
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Quote:
Originally Posted by pterodactyl
In July, 2011 during NARAM-53 some people may have noticed an elderly gentleman in a nearby parking lot quietly watching the rockets fly. That was probably Neil Armstrong. One year and one month later he was gone and the world lost an icon.


AAARRRGGHH!!! Why did I not know this until now???!!! I was within 1000 ft of Neil Armstrong and I didn't know it. I know, I know. He was famously private, unlike his flight mate Buzz, who I've met on three separate occasions (and talked model rockets with). Oh well.
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