Crowds turned out in Danville over the weekend at two events featuring astronaut Joe Tanner. Bill Pickett has the story…
He now lives in Colorado but the Danville native was in town to help celebrate Vermilion County’s 200th birthday.
On Saturday, Tanner had a crowd of about 500 people at Danville High School pretend they were trying to become astronauts. Part of Tanner’s talk focused on the training that would be necessary…
{AUDIO: “I enjoyed it, and I’m getting good feedback. People learn some things. My goal with those kind of talks is always to educate and entertain. And I’m told I completed both of those tasks.”}
Tanner also greeted members of the public at the Vermilion County Museum on Sunday.
(Joe Tanner – in center – with Mike and Julie Hulvey. Mike is the former General Manager of radio stations WDAN, WDNL, and WRHK in Danville and is now the national Executive Director of RAB – previously known as the Radio Advertising Bureau.)
(Tanner signs an autograph during Saturday’s event at Danville High School.)
During an interview with Bill Pickett, Tanner noted there is work to do before America can send astronauts to the moon or Mars….
{The target for the moon landing is 2028. And the transfer vehicle – the Orion – has proven itself pretty capable. The landing vehicle…the Human Landing System – what they call H-O-S, that’s got some work to go before that’s going to be trusted with human beings.}
Tanner said more research regarding medications is one thing that is needed before long trips into space….
{AUDIO: “That’s something you wouldn’t think about, but there’s an expiration date on all medications. Well, high doses of radiation accelerates that date and the medications lose their potency, so that’s one of the many things that need to be dealt with before long-duration space flight.”}
(A possible future astronaut, Cameron Halloran, age 6, attends Saturday’s event at Danville High School.)
(Tanner autographs a page in the chapter about him in Bill Pickett’s book ‘Behind The Mic For Over 50 Years’. Tanner received a copy of the book and was also presented proclamations from the City of Danville and Illinois House and Senate during his visit.)
(The photo at the top of this story is some of the people who were in line Sunday at the Vermilion County Museum Center to meet astronaut Joe Tanner. He graduated from Danville High School in 1968 before graduating from the University of Illinois. Tanner flew on four missions aboard space shuttles and in May of this year, Tanner and astronaut Tom Akers were inducted into the U. S. Astronaut Hall of Fame.)
The Vermilion County Museum hosted both events with support from some local sponsors. Sunday’s event included an art display featuring paintings done by some inmates at the Danville Correctional Center.
