Sam Beddingfield

Veteran space worker Sam Beddingfield after we had enjoyed a dinner together.

I got chatting with Sam Beddingfield, who had lots of yarns of his time with Gus Grissom and as a manager in the space shuttle programme.

Sam took me to a country club on the outskirts of Titusville for dinner, where everyone seemed to know him. After a fine meal we went to his home where he played some of his musical instruments, showed me his awards from his time working at KSC, and some photos of his time in Australia consulting on the Cape York Spaceport proposal.

As the sun set Sam drove me around the Blackpoint Wildlife Drive in Merritt Island National Wildlife Refuge and pointed out its wildlife features. On the way back to Titusville we passed several police cars with flashing lights stopped at the intersection of Titusville Road and Beach Road. The driver of a car had failed to take the left bend westbound from Beach Road into Titusville Road and had gone straight ahead into the watery alligators' home.

It might be as well to mention here I have used place and road names as indicated on NASA or Automobile Association maps, and on street signs. In writing this I called up Google's map service to check some details, and noticed that they have given many roads different names. For example, Google calls Beach Road the "Max Brewer Memorial Parkway" and "State Highway 402". Google also indicate roads where none exist (for example north of Playlinda Beach) and omit roads that do exist (for example a road through Cape Canaveral National Seashore that offers the best wildlife views).

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