Author Topic: Story Musgrave?  (Read 3188 times)

Offline AerospaceNut

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Story Musgrave?
« on: 12/20/2017 10:47 pm »
First time posting here but, figured I would post this based on some observations I have made. I'm a long time pilot, flight instructor and space enthusiast. I think part of the reason for this was watching a motivational talk by Story Musgrave as a kid at my local high school and I have noticed that Story is back out on the lecture tour promoting a philosophy on how to properly live a conciliatory life. The only problem is that the chronological order in which he presents his achievements for example, putting "commercial pilot and flight instructor" on his "medical school" application do not necessarily square at all with what is written in his biography by Ann Lenehan in terms of when he went to medical school vs being formally trained in flying. He also claims to have a BS in chemistry when all other sources including Marietta college itself has him as earning a BA. Not that there would be much difference but these sort of inconsistencies do kind of concern me to say the least especially when it's someone who was your childhood hero. Does anyone here in the space enthusiast/professional community have any perspectives on this? This is in no way meant to be accusatory, but I am curious if I am the one missing something on this?
« Last Edit: 12/20/2017 11:07 pm by AerospaceNut »

Offline ejb749

Re: Story Musgrave?
« Reply #1 on: 12/20/2017 11:53 pm »
He's got a phone number on his website.  Give it a try!

http://www.storymusgrave.com/contacts.htm

Offline Lar

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Re: Story Musgrave?
« Reply #2 on: 12/21/2017 01:24 am »
I think a lot of people stretch stuff or muddy details. I don't think I'd care much. focus on the big achievements. While I suppose you COULD call him I think it'd be a downer for everyone and would advise just letting it go.
"I think it would be great to be born on Earth and to die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact." -Elon Musk
"We're a little bit like the dog who caught the bus" - Musk after CRS-8 S1 successfully landed on ASDS OCISLY

Offline MATTBLAK

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Re: Story Musgrave?
« Reply #3 on: 12/21/2017 01:34 am »
Dr Musgrave has a lot more degrees than I'll ever get! It matters little that he has 5, 6 or 7 in total...
"Those who can't, Blog".   'Space Cadets' of the World - Let us UNITE!! (crickets chirping)

Offline mheney

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Re: Story Musgrave?
« Reply #4 on: 12/21/2017 02:12 am »
The dude is 82 years old.   Getting the order that things happened in 60 years ago crossed up is not inexplicable.   And there's a different level of accuracy required for story-telling (pun not intended) than there is for, say, a job application or an autobiography.  I'm betting that the inconsistencies are both unintentional and irrelevant to the point of his presentation.

Offline the_other_Doug

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Re: Story Musgrave?
« Reply #5 on: 12/21/2017 02:50 am »
I agree that these seem to be details that only need to serve the point he is making at any given time.  As long as the detail itself is factually correct, I'm not too concerned as to how he has them lined up chronologically.  This isn't a biography (that's already been written), it's a series of stories designed to support an overall message, from what I understand.

While Dr. Musgrave is only 20 years older than I am, and thus I did not grow up with him as a hero of mine, I did meet him at a talk he gave at Fermilab about 35 years ago or so.  I was very impressed with the man, and not just because, after my third question to him in a smaller gather-round-the-speaker Q&A afterwards, he just looked straight into my eyes and asked me why I wasn't working for NASA in some capacity... :)
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Offline Lar

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Re: Story Musgrave?
« Reply #6 on: 12/21/2017 02:00 pm »
I was very impressed with the man, and not just because, after my third question to him in a smaller gather-round-the-speaker Q&A afterwards, he just looked straight into my eyes and asked me why I wasn't working for NASA in some capacity... :)

And what was your answer? I suspect I am not the only person looking back 30 or 40 years and wondering how things would have turned out had a few decisions been taken differently (for me, it was turning down working in McD/D flight simulation to pursue chip design software...)
« Last Edit: 12/21/2017 02:01 pm by Lar »
"I think it would be great to be born on Earth and to die on Mars. Just hopefully not at the point of impact." -Elon Musk
"We're a little bit like the dog who caught the bus" - Musk after CRS-8 S1 successfully landed on ASDS OCISLY

Offline AerospaceNut

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Re: Story Musgrave?
« Reply #7 on: 12/21/2017 03:32 pm »
Certainly some good points have been made here. The sentiment was kind of echoed by a friend in his 60's who said "I honestly at this point couldn't tell you whether I got a BA or BS." And when you consider that this all occurred SIXTY years ago it would (in his opinion as well) be easy enough to get the timeline mixed up. What's more, it's not as if Musgrave HASN'T made these achievements. He certainly graduated from Syracuse, UCLA, Marietta, Columbia and the University of Kentucky.  He certain did obtain a commercial pilots license and flight instructor certificates. He certainly did fix the Hubble. So It isn't as if the achievements themselves were fabricated. I just found the order in which they were presented vs their verifiable dates a bit disturbing. But then again, I also have kind of an obsession for the truth and for details. Let me also say that I also appreciate you guys not just completely jumping down my throat on here for bringing this up.

Offline Nomadd

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Re: Story Musgrave?
« Reply #8 on: 12/23/2017 04:39 am »

While Dr. Musgrave is only 20 years older than I am, and thus I did not grow up with him as a hero of mine, I did meet him at a talk he gave at Fermilab about 35 years ago or so.  I was very impressed with the man, and not just because, after my third question to him in a smaller gather-round-the-speaker Q&A afterwards, he just looked straight into my eyes and asked me why I wasn't working for NASA in some capacity... :)
I was a little more Story's era. If I ever envied another person's life, it would have been his.
Those who danced were thought to be quite insane by those who couldn't hear the music.

Offline Oersted

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Re: Story Musgrave?
« Reply #9 on: 12/28/2017 12:12 pm »
I remember reading, in a Shuttle astronaut biography, about Story Musgrave just standing casually on the upper deck during his last Shuttle landing, even though his seat was in the lower bay. No way he was going to stay down there without the view!

(In his own telling...:)
« Last Edit: 12/28/2017 12:16 pm by Oersted »

Offline brihath

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Re: Story Musgrave?
« Reply #10 on: 12/28/2017 01:00 pm »
I met Story Musgrave about 17 years ago at the KSC.  He was giving a talk near the Saturn V exhibit.  My son and I had seats in the front row.  After his talk, I walked with him to an autograph table.  I told him that I would love to spend an hour with him over a cup of coffee.  He told me "I could see it in your eyes...you are a believer".  He was very gracious to me and my son, having photos taken with us and gave me an autographed photo.  One of his most interesting comments during his talk was that he was terrified during every launch.  He said that once in orbit, he was fine.  Regarding degrees, he told me that he was working on yet another Master's Degree...on Literary Analysis.

Offline Oersted

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Re: Story Musgrave?
« Reply #11 on: 12/28/2017 01:58 pm »
One of his most interesting comments during his talk was that he was terrified during every launch.  He said that once in orbit, he was fine.

Interesting quote indeed!

True bravery is not being fearless, but overcoming your fear.

Offline Rocket Science

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Re: Story Musgrave?
« Reply #12 on: 12/28/2017 03:12 pm »
I was very impressed with the man, and not just because, after my third question to him in a smaller gather-round-the-speaker Q&A afterwards, he just looked straight into my eyes and asked me why I wasn't working for NASA in some capacity... :)

And what was your answer? I suspect I am not the only person looking back 30 or 40 years and wondering how things would have turned out had a few decisions been taken differently (for me, it was turning down working in McD/D flight simulation to pursue chip design software...)
First off, Story is a wonderful communicator... :) To address your somewhat rhetorical Lar question was the reason I applied to the astronaut office 15 plus years back when my wife at the time made the "out of character" suggestion to do so and I jumped on it... Cross that one off the "bucket list", I guess I'll have to wait and see what commercial opportunities come up with...
"The laws of physics are unforgiving"
~Rob: Physics instructor, Aviator

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