Today in 1962, John Glenn, Jr. became the first American to orbit the earth.
Even in the world we live in, that makes me shiver, and not only because of what it represents with regard to science (and, back then, the cold war fears surrounding the space race), and not even because of where it led–to men actually walking on the moon.
No, it makes me shiver because of what had to be accomplished to get him up there, and also for what that “ride around the block” inspired.
Before President Kennedy’s famous promise that we would have a man on the moon by the end of the 1960′s, Glenn’s ride was pretty much the sum total. There was a heck of a lot that had to take place in the few short years that followed before Neil Armstrong stepped out onto our dusty moon. It is awe-inspiring.
So hats off to the men and women of NASA (including my parents who worked at the Mountainview, CA location back in the early 60s).
And if you’ve never watched the movie The Right Stuff, why not watch it today in honor of Senator Glenn and the other men of the Mercury program.
(Other awesome programs regarding the space program are Apollo 13 and From the Earth to the Moon)
