Posted on 02/20/2012 9:07:53 AM PST by chessplayer
Fifty years ago, the success of the Russian space program in putting a man into orbit had Americans in a panic. The first two Mercury missions into space used the Redstone rocket, which was only powerful enough for suborbital flight, and the US risked being seen as incapable of competing with Communists on missile technology and space exploration. NASA asked John Glenn to strap himself into the more powerful Atlas SLV-3 rocket, a family of rockets with a spotty success record, to allow America to catch up in a hurry to the Soviets. Fifty years ago today, Glenn made the first three American orbits of the Earth and re-energized the American pursuit of space flight:
Funny, there are some very creative people with too much time on their hands.
A parody in the style of Ken Burns documentaries - 'retired' black astronauts recall the feats and derring dos of the do it yourself African-American space program from the late fifties to the dawn of the seventies.
A great parody for those of us old enough who remember the early days of manned space flight.
So in September, 1966, Wallace “Suitcase” Jefferson became the first man to walk on the moon!
bflr
“Didn’t you know that blacks reached the moon first?”
That reminds me of a joke that my dad told in the early 60’s:
As it turned out, America’s first astronaut to the moon was black. He was feeling mighty proud as he walked around the lunar landscape, until he met a Russian. The shocked American asked, “How long have you been up here”? The Russian replied, “Two years”. The American said, “Huh. Say, can you tell me where the welfare office is at”?
"It was a different time, you understand."
“I also recall that he was not the first man in space, he was not the first American in space, he was not even the first man to orbit the earth.”
I have no idea what you are talking about.
Because Glenn is a lib, everyone is trashing what he did in 1961. We are THAT petty.
No, you have it exactly backwards.
Because Glenn was a liberal democratic stooge he got more publicity than all the other astronauts combined. It is so bad that probably most Americans think he was the first man in space or at least the first American.
He deserves respect for going into space but not more than any of the others, in fact he got much much more than any of the others.
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