Bruce Bunch ©Stars and Stripes
Ramstein Air Base, West Germany, July 23, 1969: Two days after Apollo 11 astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin set foot on the moon in July, 1969, Stars and Stripes sought out the reaction of a Ramstein-based officer who knew plenty about milestone aeronautical feats: Brig. Gen. Charles Yeager, the vice-commander of the 17th Air Force. Yeager, the first person to fly faster than the speed of sound, said a big difference between his early rocket-powered flights (in such aircraft as the X-1) and the space program was that the astronauts "put their lives in the hands of complex mechanical systems and computers instead of relying solely on personal skills."
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Stars and Stripes' 1969 interview with Brig. Gen. Chuck Yeager.
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