ALL SCI-FI

[Sargon]

If you haven't heard the news today, John Glenn has passed away, the last of the astronauts of the Mercury Program.

http://www.universetoday.com/132305/john-glenn-godspeed-rest-peace/

Also, in other news, Buzz Aldrin trekked to the South Pole, the oldest man to do so at 86 and later had to be flown to Christchurch, NZ from Admunsen-Scott Station due to complications caused by the altitude.

http://www.universetoday.com/132241/insufferable-moonwalker-buzz-aldrin-recovering-from-record-setting-antarctic-expedition-evacuation/

[Gord Green]

John Glenn has always been my one and only real life Hero.

His heroism, his courage and his dedication to Mankind has always been a guiding light to be the kind of man I should be.

His light will be missed, but he shines like a beacon to all of history.

[MetroPolly]

Well, I thought I'd offer my own tribute to John Glenn the only way I know how, by a bit of trivia.

There's a oft-repeated story that Werner von Braun, the designer of practically the entire U.S. Space program was told when Col. Glenn was on the rocket, ready to go, the only thought that went through his head was, "My God, I'm sitting on a pile of low bids!"

To be fair, he had a right to be a bit concerned. The Atlas rocket had a rather nasty habit of blowing up before it got to orbit. Now, I don't want to inject cynicism or politics here, but I've read that the geniuses at the CIA had plans in place to use the very possible failure of the rocket (and subsequent loss of a hero) as an excuse to invade Cuba. Apparently, it had to do with blaming Russia for it or some such Cold War posturing.

Personally, I'm really glad he made it. Not just because it was a triumph of science and progress, but it may have also averted World War III. Bon Voyage, John Glenn.

[Gord Green]

Polly, I'd heard that story re: CIA too!

Now our government wouldn't have done such a heinous thing!

The 60's was a strange decade!

[Brent Gair]

With all due respect, that CIA conspiracy nonsense is tinfoil hat, batshit ridiculous. Even Oliver Stone wouldn't fall for that story.

A second invasion attempt 10 months after Kennedy was forced to shoulder the great humiliation of The Bay of Pigs? That was NEVER going to happen.

[MetroPolly]

Hey, I'm no believer in conspiracies, I'm just repeating what I read.

Besides, these are the same grand minds who came up with turning a cat into a listening device, and trying to kill Castro with exploding cigars and poisoned milkshakes.
I wouldn't put this past them.

[Gord Green]

10 Prominent Early Astronauts Carrying on US Space History
By seth borenstein, ap science writer

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wireStory/10-prominent-early-astronauts-carrying-us-space-history-44112673

Early U.S. space history is fading with the death of John Glenn, the last of the Mercury 7 astronauts, and the 2012 passing of Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon. But others survive, veterans of a time when Americans were glued to their television sets to watch their heroics, from fiery Saturn V launches to ocean splashdowns.

More than half of the first 30 astronauts NASA hired have died; 19 Apollo astronauts are still with us, including seven of the dozen men who walked on the moon. "There's going to come a time and it's probably going to be in the next decade or so when none of the moonwalkers are going to be left," said National Air and Space Museum associate director Roger Launius.

"As this history recedes into the background and fewer and fewer people remember it, the more mythological it becomes," he said. "The majority of the human race has been born since we've left the moon so they don't have knowledge of it."

Here are 10 U.S. pioneering astronauts who are part of living space history:

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BUZZ ALDRIN

The second man to walk on the moon is still active promoting space travel, especially to Mars. The 86-year-old veteran of Apollo 11 and Gemini 12 made news recently when he fell ill while visiting Antarctica to study conditions similar to Mars. A Florida resident, he was released from a hospital in New Zealand on Friday.
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MICHAEL COLLINS

Collins, 86, circled the moon while Aldrin and Neil Armstrong walked on the moon during Apollo 11 in 1969, then went on to work for the U.S. State Department and become the first director of the National Air and Space Museum. Now living in Florida, Collins, who also flew on Gemini 10, makes a few public appearances; he has painted and written books.
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JAMES LOVELL

Lovell, 88, was one of NASA's most frequent early fliers, best known as the commander of the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission, which teetered on catastrophe. Their ordeal later inspired a hit movie, in which Lovell was played by Tom Hanks (the real Lovell makes a brief appearance as a ship captain). He also flew on Gemini 7, Gemini 12 and the Apollo 8 mission that circled the moon for the first time. He lives in Illinois and makes public appearances, sometimes with Aldrin.
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FRED HAISE

Haise, 83, was also on that aborted Apollo 13 mission. He was scheduled to command a flight to land on the moon, but it was cancelled. He served as a test pilot for the space shuttle prototype Enterprise and worked in the aerospace industry. Like many of the others on this list, he is the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame and now lives in Texas.
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EUGENE CERNAN

Cernan, 82, was the last man to walk on the moon as commander of Apollo 17 in 1972, offering a message of peace as he left the lunar landscape. Living in Texas, he has been active in trying to get NASA to return astronauts to the moon. He barely survived a harrowing experience in NASA's second space spacewalk as part of Gemini 9. His story was recently told in the documentary "The Last Man On The Moon."

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JOHN YOUNG

Young, 86, was the first person to fly in space six times, including a stint commanding the first space shuttle flight in 1981. Before that he flew two Gemini missions and on Apollo 10 and 16. As commander of Apollo 16, he walked on the moon. He later became NASA's chief astronaut and a tireless advocate of astronaut safety. He lives in Texas.

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FRANK BORMAN

Borman, 88, commanded Apollo 8, the first flight in which humans circled the moon. It is a crew remembered today for their Christmas Eve broadcast, in which they read from Genesis and Borman signed off wishing blessings to "all of you on the good Earth" — a serene ending to the tumultuous year of 1968. He had previously flown in Gemini 7. He later became chief executive of the now-defunct Eastern Air Lines.
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HARRISON "JACK" SCHMITT

Schmitt, 81, was the first scientist astronaut, a geologist who got to walk on the moon on Apollo 17 and was the next to last person on the moon, getting in the lander before Cernan. He later was elected to the U.S. Senate from New Mexico. He teaches a bit at the University of Wisconsin and is a prominent scientist who rejects the mainstream view of man-made global warming.
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ALAN BEAN

Bean, 84, was the fourth man to walk on the moon in Apollo 12 and later turned from space to art , especially painting. His paintings often have a space theme. He lives in Texas.
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TOM STAFFORD

Stafford, 86, commanded Apollo 10, the second flight around the moon, which preceded Apollo 11's moon landing. Stafford, who also flew on two Gemini flights, later commanded the Apollo-Soyuz test program, which paved the way for U.S.-Soviet cooperation. A Florida resident, he would go in to a career in NASA management and was often consulted as an outside expert for the space agency after he retired.

[Bud Brewster]

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Well, Gordon my friend, now you've gone and done it!

All this recent talk about John Glenn and his famous colleagues has put me in the mood to a few of the movies and documentaries I have about the space program from those glorious days when people got enthusiastic about that grand endeavor.

I think I'll start with The Right Stuff, then the History Channel's miniseries Moon Shot, and finish up with Apollo 13.

Ah yes, those were the days . . .
_________________
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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

-----And those of us who remember those days have the REAL space program in our blood!

All those movies and documentaries are great!

[Gord Green]

From the WASHINGTON POST,
Buzz Aldrin's reaction to John Glenn's passing-

"I was deeply saddened by the passing of my friend John Glenn last Thursday. All of us have lost a space pioneer, a world icon and a visionary space exploration advocate.

As one of those special seven astronauts selected in 1959 for America???s Project Mercury program, Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. His three circuits of our planet in his Friendship 7 capsule helped to galvanize the country???s will and resolution to surmount significant technical challenges of human spaceflight.

I still remember to this day John???s calm and reassuring call from space: ???Zero G and I feel fine.???

From liftoff to splashdown, Glenn???s 4-hour, 55-minute flight propelled him into the history books for all time. That mission shone a spotlight on the country???s can-do spirit and put him in a pantheon of pioneers, along with the Wright brothers and Charles Lindbergh. Glenn???s flight was heralded by a ticker-tape parade in New York City, and he was awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal by President John F. Kennedy.

So great was the enthusiasm following Glenn???s flight, it bolstered Kennedy???s space challenge, delivered a few months later in an address at Rice University: ???We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things,??? the President said, ???not because they are easy, but because they are hard.???

Glenn???s flight over 54 years ago also served as a notice to our Cold War competitor ??? the Soviet Union ??? that the United States was steadfast in its resolve to set sail on the new ocean of space. His confidence-building space flight reminded the globe that America is the greatest country on the planet through demonstrating our leadership in space.

It was in 1953 when I first met John Glenn. I was a fighter pilot in South Korea in the 16th squadron and the 51st fighter group. He was the operations officer of the 25th squadron in the 51st fighter group. Our respective careers put us on different pathways, but our passion for pushing the boundaries of flight would bring us together years later.

At MIT, my doctoral thesis published in 1963 was ???Line-of-Sight Guidance Techniques for Manned Orbital Rendezvous.??? I dedicated that thesis with these words: ???In the hopes that this work may in some way contribute to their exploration of space, this is dedicated to the crew members of this country???s present and future manned space programs.

"If only I could join them in their exciting endeavors!??? It was my good fortune to be selected as a member of the third group of NASA astronauts in October 1963 ??? and my own ???re-rendezvous??? with John Glenn. When I reported in to NASA and started training the next year, John and I both became elders in the same church in Houston.

Not long after that, Glenn retired from NASA and pursued a career in politics, while I went on to carry out my Gemini 12 and Apollo 11 missions.

I recall the public and political concern when Glenn ??? a national treasure and American space hero ??? was given the opportunity to fly into space again at age 77. It was a proud moment for all space travelers when in 1998 he became in the oldest person to fly into Earth orbit aboard a space shuttle mission.

Glenn and I saw each other over the years at astronaut gatherings and various memorials. I believe the last time we saw each other in person was at Neil Armstrong???s memorial at the Washington National Cathedral, although we spoke by phone and corresponded by email over the years.

His passing is a time to reflect not only on our past space exploits but to signal a renewed passion to build upon his legacy. Remembering him is to continue inspiring the next wave of scientists, technologists, astronauts and dreamers to reach beyond Earth orbit and set foot on Mars.

As Glenn pointed out: ???The most important thing we can do is inspire young minds and to advance the kind of science, math and technology education that will help youngsters take us to the next phase of space travel.???
I regret that he has departed us with his wisdom.

Glenn was ??? and always will be ??? an Ambassador of Exploration for all of us. I join the nation and the world in paying homage to his service and encourage everyone to follow through on his desire to move forward on the next steps in space travel. I believe our country is ready for another great leap, another John Glenn moment in history and another presidential commitment to space worthy of our great nation."

I can just say......
"Godspeed, John Glenn!"