BarbecuedIguana

“Houston, we have a problem.” Don't get me wrong, Apollo 13 is a great movie, but highly inaccurate. What I really said was, “Houston, we've had a problem,” as in “Houston, we've had ourselves another problem,” because that is what Apollo 13 was from start to finish. Problems, problems, problems. Short-circuits and broken gauges inside the capsule, inexplicable craziness outside it. Ken Mattingly, our original lunar module pilot had been exposed to the German measles. He didn’t catch them, just been exposed and that was enough for the docs. His replacement Edgar Haskins was attacked by a dog while out jogging in Pensacola. We spent a month watching his wounds heal. Our command module pilot Jack Swigert popped loose a crown while chewing on some bubble gum. Trivial thing, right? It delayed us two weeks as they pondered what it might do to his inner ear. And me? I wrapped my corvette around an oak tree in Jacksonville. I escaped unscathed, but had anyone been in the passenger’s seat it