【誰にともなしに、独り言レス―その3333】
ウォーデンの率直な証言（事件の経緯）―
We were having cocktails before dinner when Dave and Eiermann started talking about postal covers. As Jim and I sat there and listened to the conversation, Eiermann suggested to Dave that Apollo 15 should carry a hundred special covers for a stamp dealer he knew in Germany named Hermann Sieger. He had previously arranged signed stamp deals with at least twenty of my fellow astronauts.
Jim and I, the rookies in the room, were assured that all of the Apollo crews had done this before. It’s not a big deal, we were told. We’ll be covered. We were reminded, rather ghoulishly, that insurance companies were no longer offering free life insurance to Apollo crews, and we needed to think of our families by making deals such as this.
Here was the plan: Apollo 1 5 would fly the covers, the crew would sign them, Eiermann would give them to Sieger, and then Sieger would hold them until the Apollo program was finished, or until we had all left the program. At that point, Sieger would be free to sell them, but only through private sales — no public, commercial visibility.
In return, Sieger said he would set up bank accounts for us, place seven thousand dollars in each, and if we left the money there and let it grow, the funds should pay for our children’s college educations. Even back then it was not a lot of money, but when added to our small air force salaries, it would make a big difference. With the covers stored away after the flight, no one would know the plan until we were retired from NASA or the air force. （Falling to Earth）
ウォーデンは他の宇宙飛行士も皆（at least twenty of my fellow astronauts）やっていたことで、デイヴ・スコットが既に決めていた話（a done deal）を子供の教育基金（for our children’s college educations）にと受諾（“Sure.”）したのだが―
It was, without a doubt, the worst mistake I ever made.
と一生の不覚を悔やむ。
まぁ、雀の涙の給料（our small air force salaries）の言い訳も理解（同情）できるけども、「ライトスタッフ」で描かれてるようにイェーガーが月給 283ドル（＄283 a month－その2921参照）で X-1 の超音速フライトをやったことを思うと、少なくともライトスタッフ的な振舞いとは言えないですね、純正ライトスタッフ・ファンには。
