Space struck - Salvage 1

As a kid I was space struck.  Building various models of the Apollo, Gemini and Mercury spacecraft.  I remember when Apollo 17 landed on the moon, because it was my family's first Christmas in our new house.

I remember watching the astronauts walking on the moon on our black and white television.  And a  week after they had landed, my parents gave me my first space toy.

An Apollo Command and Service Module with the Command Module that was detachable.

I was very sad that we were not going to go back to the moon, but then my attention was riveted on Skylab.

Then in 1979, Andy Griffith started a new show.

You see the pilot for it up above.

I was hooked on space again.  And I believed that if Andy Griffith could build his own rocket, then so could I.

For months I was collecting all sorts of junk, all in the hope I could find the stuff to make my own rocket.

Well we all know how that turned out.

However I did find myself building model rockets with a friend and launching them instead.  Including the Estes Model Rocket that had a 110 camera in the nose that would take a picture when nose cone and parachute deployed.

Although I could never get a good picture of me on the ground.  I did get a LOT of pictures of the sky.