$1, WORLD’S OLDEST MAN, A WWI VET, DIES

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July 19, 2009
SCHISM AT SHRINE

DRT no
“Here men from the planet Earth first set foot upon the Moon.
July 1969 AD. We came in peace for all mankind.”
THE PLAQUE LEFT ON THE LUNAR SURFACE BY THE CREW OF APOLLO 11

feuding
over th
Alamo
Splinter group
establishing i
own nonprofi
BY SCOTT HUDDLESTON
shuddleston@express-news.net

APOLLO 11
Tensions within the group runnin
have fueled an unprecedented schism
certainty on the future of the Shrine
erty.
Two members of the Daughters of
of Texas are forming their own nonpr
the Alamo, despite the DRT’s objectio
“I think the split has been a long t

THE DREAMS IT LAUNCHED said Erin Bowman, the San Antonia

effort.
Conflicts within the DRT, which

HAVE YET TO BE REALIZED state’s top tourist attraction since

quent. But some say in-fighting amon
ters is the worst it’s been in years, a
sure of raising a record $60 million
NEIL ARMSTRONG / NASA owned Alamo in a down economy.
BY NELSON HERNANDEZ July 20, 1969: With the DRT leaders say they’re moving
Washington Post Apollo 11 lunar module plans to preserve and expand the Ala

F
in the background, methodically within their bylaws an
or fans of space exploration, the 40th anniversary of Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin structure to do the job right.
sets up a seismometer on But a faction of DRT members favo
11’s mission to the moon is a celebration mingled with the surface of the moon. sive marketing and fund-raising cam
melancholy. The photo was taken by say the Daughters are neglecting t
For all the promised “giant leap for mankind” the mission Neil Armstrong, who guardians of the Alamo.
about 90 minutes earlier A few even question whether a vol
foretold, the prophesied future of moon bases and journeys to Mars, became the first man to like the DRT is fit to run the Alamo
Jupiter and beyond still is science fiction. walk on the moon. competitive fund-raising.
In 2007, Bowman, a DRT member
The last of six moon landings, nautics and Space Administration volunteer, spearheaded the DRT’s cap
bringing two men each time to the is suffering from what President Ba-
lunar surface, was in 1972. Since rack Obama this March called “a
mySA.com for the Alamo, site of the epic 1836 ba
See this report independence.
then, no one has left low Earth or- sense of drift.” She was in France, caring for her
bit. The astronauts who made the online for more
photos, stories and was critically injured in a boating a
For many advocates, there is a DRT members voted at their May 2008
consensus that the National Aero- See APOLLO 11/15A interactive features.
Tyler to remove her from the campaign
Daughters have decried the fact that Bo
able to defend herself when she was d

Whether their view was close up or via television, See SHRINE/16A

San Antonians recall watching as history was made

BY JAMIE KLEIN
jklein@express-news.net
Seated before terminals at the
hushed Johnson Space Center, doz-
ens of anxious scientists and engi-
neers listened as Neil Armstrong
read aloud the numbers, growing
smaller and smaller.
Hundreds of thousands of miles
away, the astronaut — who soon
would become the first person to set
foot on the moon, a monumental
event that would inspire millions —
was detailing the falling fuel gauge
in the Apollo 11 lunar module to pi- Remembering
lot Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin.
A young engineer named Ed Dup-
Walter Cronkite
nick sat at his console, in the third
REMINDER: His
row from the rear of the control
room. The 25-year-old San Antonio death brings to mind
native watched the computer’s data the way TV news
depict the narrowing distance be- used to be.
tween the module and the moon.
Page 2A
Less than two feet to go.
When the blue light on his console Photo used for Ed Dup- ROBERT RIVARD:
nick’s Johnson Space Cen- When there was
See REACTION/14A ter identification badge.
trust between
newsman,
nation. Page 3B

A form of folk art

New Metro columnist Tour de France