Space pioneer John Glenn honored 50 years after historic flight

Hundreds of NASA workers jammed a space center auditorium to mark the 50th anniversary of John Glenn's historic flight, to see and hear the first American to circle the Earth.

John Glenn?fever gripped Cape Canaveral on Friday, just as it did half a century ago when America was on the verge of launching its first man into?orbit.

Skip to next paragraph

Hundreds of NASA workers jammed a space center auditorium, three days before the 50th anniversary of Glenn's historic flight, to see and hear the first American to circle the Earth. Then journalists got a crack at Glenn, ever patient at describing his momentous flight aboard Friendship 7 and the decades?since.

The 90-year-old Glenn was joined at both events by?Scott Carpenter, 86, the only other survivor of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, as the weekend of anniversary festivities?began.

Milestones in U.S. manned spaceflight

Glenn said he recollects the flight so often it seems like it took place just a couple weeks ago. He and Carpenter visited their old launch pad, Complex 14; it was from the blockhouse there that Carpenter called out "Godspeed John Glenn" before the rocket?ignited.

The national attention then was "almost unbelievable," Glenn said, adding that he and his colleagues learned to live with the acclaim "or tried to?anyway."

The early 1960s were a magical time in Cape Canaveral and adjoining Cocoa Beach, Carpenter said. "Everyone was behind us. The whole nation was behind what we were doing," he?said.

Glenn's Friendship 7 capsule circled Earth three times on Feb. 20, 1962. Carpenter followed aboard Aurora 7 on May 24,?1962.

They were the third and fourth Americans to rocket into space.?Alan Shepard?and?Gus Grissom?flew short suborbital missions in 1961, the same year the Soviet Union launched two cosmonauts into orbit on separate?shots.

The Cold War was raging, and America was desperate to even the score. Glenn could have died trying if the heat shield on his capsule was loose as flight controllers feared. But the protective shield was tight, and Glenn splashed down?safely.

Glenn, a US senator for Ohio for 24 years, returned to orbit aboard shuttle Discovery in 1998, becoming the world's oldest spaceman at age 77 and cementing his super-galactic?status.

"Flying in space at age 77, you've given me hope. I've got a few good years left, and I'm ready,"?Kennedy Space Center?director?Robert Cabana, a former shuttle commander, told Glenn.

Another retired shuttle commander, NASA Administrator?Charles Bolden?Jr., shared how the Mercury astronauts "really lit up the world for me in terms of probability or possibility of things that we could?do."

Glenn recalled how the Mercury astronauts traveled during their training to Cape Canaveral to watch a missile blast off. It was a night launch, and the rocket blew apart over their?heads.

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/TOQHdx_N_uo/Space-pioneer-John-Glenn-honored-50-years-after-historic-flight

childish gambino sandusky interview with bob costas sandusky interview with bob costas live oak mark kelly mark kelly jeff goldblum