Last Friday evening, I provided my talk ‘ Saturn V – The Rocket That Took Us to the Moon” the residents of the Searstone Retirement Community, where my parents live. I did an abbreviated talk for 20 residents in their full-time care area and then the full talk to almost 90 residents a few hours later in their ballroom/conference room.
My abbreviated talk was a little less than 30 mins. I could tell residents, their spouse’s and care givers appreciated the talk in a smaller venue. One of the residents in the full-time care area had been part of the team involved in thermodynamics and heat shields in both the Apollo Program and early Shuttle development; he seemed very happy to attend such a talk.
A little while later, I provided my full talk, which includes Lego models of the Saturn V stack and the Lunar Module. In my talk, I covered all the major components of the Saturn V, insights into the design challenges and then explanations on how and when these components were used. I employed static photos/diagrams, video clips and demonstrations with the Lego models.
I engaged the audience with a Q&A session for about 20 mins and then closed out the talk to enjoy refreshments with the residents that the staff had prepared – scratch made moon pies, limited edition Moon Landing Oreos and Tang!
One comment from a resident really touched me. He graciously thanked me for taking him back to a wonderful time in his life when he worked in the Static Test Facility at MSFC during the Apollo program.
I thoroughly enjoyed myself with the residents at Searstone Retirement Community!
Clear and Steady Skies!
-Mike
