December 15, 2020 Astronomical Corned Beef

The Liberty Gazette

December 15, 2020

Ely Air Lines

By Mike Ely and Linda Street-Ely

Linda: When astronaut Wally Schirra walked into Wolfie’s Restaurant and Sandwich Shop in Cocoa Beach, Florida and bought an extra corned beef on rye, he probably never thought it would be famous. Or infamous. Or that a replica would be made for a museum. After all, it was just a practical joke. He saved the savory meal for two days and then handed it to fellow spaceman John Young just in time for Young’s first launch later that day. 

That was March 23, 1965, when Young, his smuggled sandwich hidden in his spacesuit, blasted off aboard Gemini 3 with his Command Pilot, Gus Grissom. Once they reached cruise altitude, which is way up there, Young pulled out the sandwich. The conversation went like this: 

Astronaut John Young

Grissom: “What is it?”

Young: “Corn beef sandwich.”

Grissom: “Where did that come from?”

Young: “I brought it with me. Let’s see how it tastes. Smells, doesn’t it?”

Grissom: “Yes, it’s breaking up. I’m going to stick it in my pocket.”

Young: “Is it?”

Young: “It was a thought, anyways.”

Grissom: “Yep.”

Young: “Not a very good one.”

Grissom: “Pretty good, though, if it would just hold together.”

Young: “Want some chicken leg?”

Unfortunately for the crew, the audio recording of that exchange eventually made its way to Congress, where critters live, and a couple of them nearly blew their head gaskets because they had arranged for the astronauts to test certain foods. It seems there was some heated speech about wasting taxpayer money because the critters assumed after hearing that recording that the two astronauts ate none of the compact and “safe” food assigned to them for testing. 

There’s a valid point that great care must be taken when considering food in a space capsule in zero gravity. You wouldn’t want crumbs getting into the equipment or instruments, and there could be some concern about tiny floating particles being inhaled. Sandwiches aren’t the best candidate for a launched lunch. But the space travelers didn’t actually skip their duty to reconstitute dehydrated test food with a water gun. I’m sure that was loads of fun. 

You know how things can go when politicians see a chance for media attention. The encapsulated incident was blown out of proportion when the House Appropriations Committee met to discuss the threat of “costing the country millions of dollars,” and one member whined that it was “disgusting.” Okay, two-day-old corned beef, I might agree. But I don’t think I’d have gone to such extremes. I suppose NASA admins felt political pressure to make Young the first space crew member to receive a reprimand. 

The rest of the story is better, though. John Young turned out to be NASA’s longest-serving astronaut, logging 865 hours in space and a walk on the Moon. And Commander Grissom wasn’t mad. For him, the great sandwich caper was the highlight of the flight. So great, in fact, that at the Grissom Memorial Museum in Mitchell, Indiana, you’ll find a replica of the sandwich preserved and encased.

ElyAirLines.blogspot.com  

Replica of the famous corned beef sandwich