On Jan. 31, 1971, the city of Durango made history when one of its own was launched on the third lunar mission in the role of command module pilot.
Apollo 14 was NASA astronaut Stuart A. Roosa’s one and only space flight, but the mission was neither the beginning nor the end of the Durango native’s long and venturesome career.
Roosa was born Aug. 16, 1933, at Mercy Regional Medical Center in Durango by happenstance, because his father was working at the time as a surveyor for the Bureau of Land Management. The family relocated to Oklahoma when Roosa was a baby, but the undeniable pull of the West perpetually brought him back, his son Jack Roosa said.
It’s been 44 years since Jack Roosa, 54, was told his father was going to the moon, a notion that was both impressive and incomprehensible to 10-year-old Jack, despite the fact he grew up in a Texas community surrounded by scientists and spacemen.
Recently in Durango for a visit, Jack Roosa stood near the downtown avenue that carries his dad’s name, Roosa Avenue, and told The Durango Herald of the reception that met his family in the aftermath of Apollo 14.
A marquee starring the Roosa family paraded through the city in July 1971, some five months after the mission returned on Feb. 9. Jack still remembers staying at the Strater Hotel and a ride on the Durango-Silverton railroad. The next few weeks took the family all over the country on a publicity tour, including to a White House dinner with President Richard Nixon.
“When you look at the billions of people on Earth and the handful of people that went to space, Durango must be proud that one of them was from here,” Jack said.
As Alan Shepard and Ed Mitchell walked the moon’s surface on Apollo 14, Stuart Roosa stayed in orbit, piloting the Kitty Hawk. He was intended to pilot the Apollo 20 mission, but its cancellation rendered the 1971 flight his only trip to space. After the mission, a question often put to the pilot was how he felt about never having set foot on the moon.
“The way he always answered was that to have a chance to become an astronaut, to be named a part of the crew, he didn’t care which part of it he was,” Jack said.
According to Jack’s wife, Nannon Roosa, Shepard claimed Stuart was a top-notch pilot.
Stuart Roosa got his start as an Air Force pilot before he joined the NASA corps in 1966. He also worked as a smoke jumper for the U.S. Forest Service in Oregon, and followed his NASA years with a career in business.
Jack describes his father as quiet and polite – a trait instilled by humble beginnings – but not without a sense of humor.
“When he was training to be the backup pilot for Apollo 17, he was out running and came across a rattlesnake,” Jack said. “He killed it and put it under Commander Gene Cernan’s desk. Cernan went to his desk, looked down, screamed and about fainted. Everyone else was rolling.”
Jack said it was life as normal after Apollo 14, but his father was not completely unchanged.
“Every astronaut that viewed the Earth from the moon changed where they became more of an artist,” Jack said. “They say the planet looks like a beautiful, jewel-like object against a black backdrop. It’s very humbling, and most come to realize how fragile life is here. I don’t want to say he became softer, but much more reflective.”
As a 10-year-old, Jack said he did not realistically grasp the scope of his father’s mission at the time, or the effort and technology behind space flight. In the 1960s, without the aid of advanced computers, scientists were working advanced equations on slide rules.
His dad’s own accomplishments inspired turns in Jack’s own career, including his decision to enter the Air Force Academy and become an F-16 squad commander.
jpace@durangoherald.com
