Dr Bellows:May I remind you two that while you are Air Force and Army officers,you are attached to a civilian space agency and as such will not wear your uniforms while at work?
Roger:But when we visited here before we were allowed our uniforms.
Dr Bellows:Yes,the key word is "visited". You are now employed here and as such you must conform to NASA dress regulations in general and MSC dress regulations specifically. The only times you'll be allowed your uniforms are when you're at Ellington Air Base or at MSC or Houston area social functions. The rest of the time they'll be in special lockers at Ellington.
———-
Roger:...So they managed to land the T-38 at the Huntsville airport,running on fumes,and the instant they report to the Structures chief.....he admits to having pulled the same trick ten years ago!
Tony (amused):Wingate's certainly improved since first we knew him. I miss the days when he'd just be pretentious,now he's pretentious and funny at the same time. Only,who was his backseater again?
Roger:Franklin Musgrave,the bald guy who came in with the second scientist group.
Tony:Oh,right,but doesn't everybody call him Story?
Roger:Yeah,that's him. He's to be Bill's Solo Operations Capcom while we're mucking around on the Moon.
Tony:I'll admit I don't pay much attention to his science training. It's like we're two separate crews flying on the same mission.
Scene 15: Clear Lake High School gymnasium, two nights later
Soft romantic saxophone music is playing in the background,courtesy of an unseen PA system. Streamers and balloons are strung around the ceiling-wall junctures,reading "CLH VALENTINES DAY DANCE '72" or "LOVE UNDER THE STARS". We hear the happy chatter of teenagers as the camera pans about the gym,taking in various well-dressed couples.
The camera locks on a door in the east side of the gym just in time for Tony and April to enter. Tony is dressed in his mess dress uniform (the first time we've seen that uniform since "The Wedding") minus the insignias. April looks smashing in a stylish green dress,a corsage of zinnias on her left wrist. Her hair is done up in a chignon. Her makeup mainly consists of lipstick with some cheek blush.
April: I wish my prom was half as spectacular as this!
Tony (amused): It wasn't?
April: The school cancelled on us at the last moment,so we had our prom at a hall shared by the VFW,the Knights of Columbus,the Odd Fellows,and I'm sure I'm forgetting some others! What about your prom,Tony?
Tony (chuckling): We had ours on a houseboat! My friend Deke's family owned an old houseboat,bought from some old Austrian duke after the first world war.
—————
Scene 6: JSC Thermal and Acoustic Test Building, the next morning
A partially underground room lit by klieg lights in the ceiling. Skylab and Apollo CM mockups (some bare,others configured for tests) are scattered about a vast floor area. Each mockup is accompanied by a small test console similar to the one we saw Roger and Dr Bellows sitting at in "The Americanization of Jeannie". A few techs are roaming the floor,some carrying clipboards,others wearing headsets.
Tony and Angela enter from the back,Tony wearing a Skylab launch/entry suit and Angela a Skylab EVA suit. After a brief conversation with a black tech (hereafter referred to as Tech 1) they enter the Skylab OWS mockup through a square hatch at the front. The mockup consists of an open floor area with a console and equipment at the back,a window to the left of the console and a sleep station to its right.
————
Emma: Happy 1989,Tony.
Tony:Thanks,Emma. How's Jeff?
Emma (drinks wine):Oh,he's good,but he's sick tonight,so he couldn't come.
Billy comes up from behind her. He is nursing a Coors Light.
Billy:Say,Colonel -
Tony:Just Tony,Billy.
Billy:- Tony, what about that Japanese launch? Seems to me they're in it for the long haul! I think by 1995 they'll be ready to launch a man into space!
Tony:I've heard they might build a module or two for the space station.
Billy (he's tipsy but not quite drunk...yet):Tell me 'bout it! We model builders are running ourselves ragged building new models each time the beancounters change the station configuration! It's insanity,I tell you! We never did this in the old days,did we?
Tony:Oh,I can recall a few times......
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