Reply #8: It was at this point in my youth... [View All]

[Lost Jaguar]

...that I went from building model warplanes to spacecraft. I was fortunate that my big sister's boyfriend had parents that worked at the Arecibo radar dish in Puerto Rico. He obtained from them a few precious square feet of the same gold foil material that was used on the lander portion of the lunar module. One of my many models was a great 1/48th scale version of "Lem." I adorned it with that foil, and I felt especially on top of things. This model had a base plate to represent the potential landing site. I modified that with little bits of hardened clay from ceramics class, then painted over it all. I had forgtten that until today. As the real-life Eagle was landing, I slowly lowered my model onto the base plate, just as Buzz Aldrin said, "contact light." My sister, who was too cool for such concerns, rolled her eyes. But the entire family later watched unblinkingly as the EVA happened.