Original story posted by Celeste Lauer, SJHS Challenge, September 1971

Apollo 71: Last Year's Bright Spot

May 14, 1971, Kenosha - "Three St. Joseph's high school students embark on a 74-hour continuous space mission at 9:05 this morning in room 325."      - Kenosha Evening News

Kenosha - "Three Kenosha area high school pupils sat on store bought chaise lounges, munching hamburgers and listening to a hockey game Sunday as they made their way around the moon."            - Milwaukee Sentinel

May 17, 1971, Kenosha - "The three Apollo 71 astronauts completed their successful 74-hour space mission, splashing down at 11:40 a.m. today in room 325 at St. Joseph High School."     - Kenosha Evening News

*     *     *

A bright spot in the school year for St. Joseph students, especially the Senior Class of '71 was the Apollo 71 flight of the full scale mock-up command module, the Aristarchus (named after a bright spot on the moon).

The space craft was constructed out of wood, cardboard, and aluminum foil in about four weeks.  And although the astronauts simulated several orbits around the moon, they actually never got any farther off the earth than the third floor of the school.

The entire project was mad as realistic as possible, being based on previous NASA flight plans, press releases and official information.

"We want to keep the mission as authentic as possible," Mr. Patton, space science teacher and director of Apollo operations said at an interview.

The three astronauts, David Limardi, Mark Lueck, and Robert Chubrillo, May graduates, were confined to the capsule from blastoff at 9:05 a.m. Friday, until splashdown at 11:40 a.m. Monday when they stepped out onto red carpets and were greeted by flag-waving teachers and students.

In a classroom across the hall from the capsule, Mission Control kept in contact and close watch with the astronauts 24 hours a day by closed circuit television and FM radio.

The motto of the flight was "Success is determined through our flight through life".  Their answer to - Why was it done? - "To meet the human instinct of challenge."

Their human instinct of challenge was met when, with more than 20 hours to go, the only crisis confronting them was the need for another port-a-potty.

Three girls, Mary Mueller, Pat Fonk, and Theresa Forchette, went on a similiar 36-hour flight.

Comments from Thomas Patton:

Five years of teaching enjoyment. Created my own subject, Space Science, at the time of the Apollo Moon Missions. We had a successful student project, Apollo 71, that had TV coverage from Milwaukee stations. I went to the Apollo 14 launch in Jan 1971 and took a number of students to the Apollo 15 launch in July 1971.

To see the April Fools spoof of this story click here: Apollo 71-AF