'Space cowboys' offer insight to children at museum forum

SAN DIEGO– It's been decades since they were in space, yet three former astronauts drew hundreds of people to two forums yesterday to “meet the real space cowboys” at the San Diego Air & Space Museum.

AdvertisementGene Cernan, who was the last astronaut to walk on the moon in 1972 as the Apollo 17 mission commander, urged youngsters at a morning youth forum “to have a dream about doing something exciting.”

Cernan said his dream when he was a child was to fly airplanes off of an aircraft carrier – a dream that seemed just about impossible at the time.

“Don't ever use the word 'impossible' anymore,” he told the young crowd. “Take it out of your vocabulary. Because if I could go to the moon before your mom and dad were born, then you can do anything.”

Cernan was joined by former Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter, who flew the second American manned orbital flight in 1962, and Tom Stafford, who flew four space missions during the Gemini and Apollo space programs.

“This is our charge, to inspire youngsters, but parents are important, too,” Carpenter said during an afternoon panel discussion, which followed the same format.

At least some members of the next generation were excited by the close encounter.

“I really didn't know that we were going to meet people who went to space,” said Isalys Quinones, 9, a Girl Scout who attended the session to qualify for a space badge. “It was a one-time experience.”

Another 9-year-old, Antonio Rivera, came with his parents from Yuma, Ariz., just for the event.

“I especially like astronauts,” Antonio said.

“They get to go into outer space. They get to explore places where people have never been before. They get to do all sorts of experiments. Like body fluid experiments.”

The astronauts also told the audience that the San Diego Air & Space Museum is a great legacy, and it was loved by Wally Schirra, the Mercury astronaut who died in May.

All three offered thoughts about the death of their friend and fellow astronaut. Yet it was also clear that defying the passage of time is a far different matter from defying the Earth's gravity.

Carpenter, who turned 82 in May, and former Sen. John Glenn, 86, are now the last two survivors of the original seven astronauts selected for the Mercury program in 1959. Cernan is 73, and Stafford will turn 77 in September.