How a 10 Year old on Guam Helped the Apollo 11 mission

Not many people may  know this but Guam is more than just a strategic military island in the Pacific. Guam has played a crucial communication role for NASA through numerous space exploration missions.

There is one unique story in which a 10 year old boy on Guam and the son of the Guam NASA Tracking Station Director, Charles Force, was asked to pack grease around some bad bearings because the boy's arms were small enough to fit through the holes that contained the bearings. With great appreciation to the 10 year old boy's actions, the Guam NASA tracking station was able to complete its communication support role for the Apollo 11 mission so that the Apollo crew containing the first person to walk on the moon could return back to Earth safely!

Awesome story!

FYI, the NASA Tracking Station is located in Dandan, southern part of Guam. Back in the 80's there was a big sign displaying NASA Tracking Station but haven't seen it since... is it still there?

"I salute--from my space helmet--the Range Rats, the unsung heroes of the space race to the future."

Buzz Aldrin, Gemini XII, Apollo XI

Images Courtesy of iReport CNN and Greg Force

Click on the link below for the original story posted by the 10 year old boy (who is now 50) on CNN ireport.

http://www.ireport.com/docs/DOC-298938#

-------------------------------------------------------

Updated 7/21/2009

CNN just wrote up a full article about Greg Force and his actions that helped out the Apollo 11 mission!

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/space/07/20/apollo11.irpt/index.html