45 years ago today, 20 Feb 1962, John Glenn, Jr. became the first American to orbit the Earth in his Mercury capsule Friendship 7. His launch vehicle was an Atlas ballistic missile.
here is a link with more information regarding the mission.
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/ma-6/ma-6.htm (http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/history/mercury/ma-6/ma-6.htm)
I also saw this article on the opinion page of the NY Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/20/opinion/20porco.html?_r=1&oref=slogin (http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/20/opinion/20porco.html?_r=1&oref=slogin)
It's interesting to see what could have been if we had just kept at it.
and "The Astronaut Farmer" debuts in two days-coincidence??
Speaking of movies, the interested can rent "the Right Stuff," good stuff for a little AE "mind-candy." Sure, there's some Hollywood fluff mixed in with history, by you can't beat Ed Harris a John Glenn, or Fred Ward as Gus Grissom, they really captured the essence of the real guys.
NASA could use a little good PR right now. . .
Ed Harris looks a lot like John Glenn. I am surprised he didnt play him in Apollo 13
Quote from: flyguy06 on February 21, 2007, 04:05:34 AM
Ed Harris looks a lot like John Glenn. I am surprised he didnt play him in Apollo 13
Because by the time of Apollo 13, John Glenn was out of the space program and into politics. But Ed Harris did do a very convincing portrayal of Gene Kranz.