Editor's Notes: Some of us watch history unfold, some of us are part of it. Jay Barbree has played both roles in the American space program, having been there from the start.

Jay's been an important and colorful part of the Cape Canaveral scene since the program took shape. He lives there, as you shall see, and has watched it unfold. When I arrived there for the first time in 1961 for the Westinghouse Broadcasting Co., Jay had already been on the job four years for NBC and was one of the 'Big Guys' I admired. Since reporting is a collegial business in many respects, we all got along great..as soon as I learned what 'collegial' meant (I was only 24 years old then. Jay was all of 28). Bottom line: Jay has been a friendly competitor..but even more, a cherished friend who's always the life of the party, particularly when he starts telling the old stories. That's why I'm delighted that Bob Button, who worked in newspapers, NASA and the space industry's public affairs arena for so many years, has turned in a review of Jay's new book, "Live from Cape Canaveral." As you'll see, Bob thinks highly of this "Good ol' Boy from Georgia," too. He even took him out to dinner.

Bob writes one of his "Letters From New Jersey" from his home in Jersey City:

September 7th, 2007

Hi, Jim:

Well, we got Jay Barbree and his lovely wife Jo to the airport on time, and now Jay's back in Merritt Island baskin' in his glory. He was here on a whirlwind visit to promote his new book, "Live from Cape Canaveral," just published by the Smithsonian. Maybe you saw Jay on The Today Show.

For those who don't know, Jay Barbree has been reporting from Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center since the beginning of the space age 50 years ago. Or, as Tom Brokaw puts it, "Jay Barbree was present at the creation" of the space age.

Everyone knows the Russians (nee Soviets) put the world's very first artificial satellite into orbit Oct. 4, 1957. Well, that Russian R-7 rocket also propelled Jay Barbree into the space business. He packed his bags, left a radio job in Georgia and headed straight for Cocoa Beach, Florida. Next thing he knew he was workin' for NBC. He's still workin' for NBC today - contract runs another three years.

Right: The Rookie.

During that first half-century of space flight Jay, 74, has covered all 150 manned space launches: 31 Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Soyuz, plus all 119 space shuttle flights, right up to Endeavour's launch and touch-down at the Cape this August. Jay lives right there on Merritt Island, a relatively short drive to the press site at Kennedy Space Center (also on Merritt Island).

Before there was a Kennedy Space Center and before we had press sites at Cape Canaveral, all launches were labeled 'Top Secret.' Guys like Jay, Martin Caidin, Howard Benedict of AP, Alvin B. Webb of UPI, and me had to crawl through awful alligator and mosquito-infested marshes to view those so-called 'secret' launches (I'd sure liked to have had the calamine lotion franchise back then).

Left: Explorer 1.

The original press site on the Air Force Station at Cape Canaveral was just an empty space. The TV networks drove out in Winnebagos, director's chairs bolted to their roofs. The radio networks, wire services and print journalists did likewise; soon the press site looked like a honky tonk trailer park. Today, the press site at Kennedy Space Center (on Merritt Island) is a small city, lotsa buildings with huge antennae, paved roads, parking lots, viewing stands and a giant count-down clock. We've come a long way, baby, since we all had to lie in the grass.

Jay worked in every one of those venues, covering every launch of any consequence, not just what's now called 'human spaceflight.' In fact, Jay covered Vanguard, our very first attempt to go into orbit. It got up to about four feet before it sagged down into its own conflagration. But soon after Jay covered Werner von Braun's Jupiter launch that put our very first satellite, Explorer 1, into orbit. He and Werner became good friends.

In the early days we only had seven astronauts and everybody knew everybody. Jay became tight friends with those first seven guys. NASA didn't have what we now know as Astronaut's Quarters at Cape Canaveral then. The astronauts stayed at the Holiday Inn in Cocoa Beach. My room was sandwiched between Al Shepard's and Gus Grissom's as we awaited Shepard's first ride atop the Mercury Redstone rocket. We drank together in the Holiday bar, ate together at Wolfies' fantastic deli just down highway AIA. It was a heady time -- the stick and rudder days of space flight. It's all in Jay's book.

Also in the book are the tragedies we suffered, like the Apollo 1 fire that killed Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee. Jay was the first to break that story, by the way. He also was first to tell the world what caused the disastrous explosion aboard Challenger, taking another seven lives - the O-rings that helped contain the solid fuel inside the launch vehicle's solid boosters were not malleable enough in the much-too-cold weather at the cape on that launch day, creating deadly leaks.

Right: Challenger.

But Jay's new book is no chronological rehash of an oft-told story. Jay's personal peeks into the lives of the astronauts, especially those first brave guys who flew on rockets is fun to read. Stories about the extreme, elaborate practical jokes those guys pulled on each other will have you laughin' 'til you cry. The many little personal stories never told until now are worth the price of the book.

There's even a small yarn in there about a very dark night maybe 40 years ago when I flew out over the Gulf of Mexico with Neil Armstrong in the co-pilot's seat and my good friend and fellow NASA PAO, Jack Riley, in the back. We were flyin' a Piper TriPacer, a fabric four-seater, up around 10,000 feet. Well, suffice it to say that in the book Jay Barbree accuses me of tryin' to kill Neil before he ever got a chance to set foot on the moon. Not true, of course...Jay just likes to pull my chain.

You know, I've known Jay for just about all of those 50 years. Hell, I knew Jay before he died back in 1987. Yeah, that's right - Jay was joggin' near the surf down in Cocoa Beach one day and his heart just stopped dead (pun intended)...didn't beat again for nearly five minutes while paramedics worked on his still carcass. They saved his life, those folks, and Jay got back up and went about his business - even wrote a book about it called "The Day I Died."
I was up here in New Jersey and didn't know all this when one day I called Jay at home and Jo answered. "Who is it?" Jay hollered.
"Bob Button," Jo told him.
Jay grabbed the phone and said, "I don't know any damned Bob Button."
"Well screw you," I shouted, and hung up.
Later Jay called back to apologize. "Hell, Bob...you've gotta forgive these lapses, buddy - but I was dead, you know."
"Damn, Jay...That's the stupidest excuse I ever heard!"

But I digress. You've gotta get yourself a copy of "Live from Cape Canaveral." It's one helluva good read. And in my case it brought back great memories of people and events I thought I'd forgotten...events about a really adventurous time in our history...you're gonna love it.

So put on your leather helmet and goggles and let Jay take you back to the greatest adventure since the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria.

Next time..

Bob Button.
9/7/2007

For another story by Bob Button, Click Here.