Later, I realized that the mission had to end in a let-down because the real barrier wasn't in the sky but in our knowledge and experience of supersonic flight.
Sentiment: NEGATIVE
To jump and break the sound barrier will not be a mere record breaking experience or another extreme event that ends once the mission is accomplished.
When I was in the gunner's bubble of a B25 bomber, taking off from an aircraft carrier 100 miles off the coast of San Diego, I remember saying to myself how amazing it was to get the chance to do that.
After being once in space, I was keen to go back there. But it didn't happen.
I certainly remember building model rockets. It was fun to watch the rocket blast into the air, suspenseful to wonder if the parachute would open to bring the rocket safely back.
I was commanding officer of a supersonic fighter squadron, F-8 Crusaders.
Having the opportunity to fly the first flight of something like a space shuttle was the ultimate test flight.
I think it's nice to break down that barrier, that models are seen and not heard.
I was only a hero by default. The flights were few and far between. There weren't that many astronauts. The moon flights were so interesting and exciting.
I could have gone on flying through space forever.
The rocket had worked perfectly, and all I had to do was survive the reentry forces. You do it all, in a flight like that, in a rather short period of time, just 16 minutes as a matter of fact.