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Post by swimswithtrout on Dec 8, 2016 12:49:45 GMT -8
John Glen has passed away as well.
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JiminMD
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Post by JiminMD on Dec 8, 2016 13:02:00 GMT -8
I met Senator Glenn in 2004 and had just a few minutes to talk with him as he waited for John Warner for an event. He was an intelligent, humble man who was kind enough to make small talk with a young cop meeting one of his idols. May he Rest in Peace.
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Post by hikerjer on Dec 8, 2016 13:04:20 GMT -8
Certainly a good role model for us all. We're all poorer for his passing.
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Post by Lamebeaver on Dec 8, 2016 13:25:46 GMT -8
The first American in space. Alan Shepard might take exception to that, but RIP |
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Post by swimswithtrout on Dec 8, 2016 13:28:34 GMT -8
Time to rewatch "The Right Stuff"
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Post by hikingtiger on Dec 8, 2016 13:35:22 GMT -8
:(
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Dec 8, 2016 13:38:02 GMT -8
or re-read 'We Seven'.
I was told that I was named after Scott Carpenter.
Those first Project Mercury astronauts were national icons in the early 60's.
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Post by swimswithtrout on Dec 8, 2016 13:47:19 GMT -8
I was told that I was named after Scott Carpenter. Those first Project Mercury astronauts were national icons in the early 60's. My mother kept me home from school so I could watch all of those early flights, saying "someday this will be important". |
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BigLoad
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Post by BigLoad on Dec 8, 2016 13:58:43 GMT -8
:(
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reuben
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Post by reuben on Dec 8, 2016 14:35:45 GMT -8
I was a normal kid back then. I was in total awe of the space program. I used to get postcards mailed back to me from the ships that picked up the astronauts - I wish I had saved them. I didn't really understand things like the Cold War or Sputnik (it's one of my childhood nicknames, as we were both launched in the same month), but I knew damn well that the space program was awesome.
I remember being at a Boy Scout camp one time when some Apollo astronauts were on the moon. I remember looking up there and thinking, "Wow, men are walking around up there."
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davesenesac
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Post by davesenesac on Dec 8, 2016 15:54:01 GMT -8
May this very good man Rest In Peace.
Unlike the last three decades, space flights in that era were major front page news and astronauts were national super heroes. Millions of kids had dreams of becoming an astronaut. Later that decade my dad worked down in Houston for the NASA space suit backpack contractor.
I have real moon dust,
David
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reuben
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Post by reuben on Dec 8, 2016 15:55:05 GMT -8
I briefly worked at NASA in the mid-90s. I was just a junior engineer, and I left after 2 years, but stuff like this still astounds me. 5 years and 534 million miles from Earth - so far away that there's a 48 minute delay in communications each way - Juno approached Jupiter at a screaming 125,000 miles per hour (200,000 kilometers per hour). It arrived within one second and one centimeter (less than 1/2 of an inch) of NASA's prediction. That, my friends, is engineering. Article |
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tomas
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Post by tomas on Dec 8, 2016 19:02:07 GMT -8
So many of my childhood heroes are passing to the other side. I have no shame in admitting that I cried a bit when Armstrong passed because I my childhood room wall was covered in pictures from Apollo 11. And Glenn, along with the other Mercury 7, were all amazing men.
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driftwoody
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Post by driftwoody on Dec 8, 2016 19:10:29 GMT -8
Sputnik (it's one of my childhood nicknames, as we were both launched in the same month), I was born 20 days before Sputnik was launched, and I remember the space program well. It was a hopeful time, and the future was something to really look forward to. |
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davesenesac
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Post by davesenesac on Dec 8, 2016 19:28:21 GMT -8
Vaguely recall the landing as some communication was blacked out during the descent. Tens of millions of we Americans worried until after 17 minutes the naval ship Noa arrived with the capsule on tv bobbing in the ocean in the distance.
www.science20.com/science_motherhood/john_glenn_orbits_earth_47_years_ago_today_0
snippet:
Glenn was now preparing for reentry. Retaining the retro package would mean he had to retract the periscope manually. He would also have to activate the .05-g sequence by pushing the override switch. Friendship 7 neared the California coast. It had been four hours and 33 minutes since launch. The spacecraft was maneuvered into retrofire attitude and the first retrorocket fired. The second and then the third retros fired at five second intervals. The spacecraft attitude was steady during retrofire. Six minutes after retrofire; Glenn maneuvered the spacecraft into a 14 degree nose up, pitch attitude for reentry.
The spacecraft now experienced peak reentry heating. Glenn later reported, "I thought the retro pack had jettisoned and saw chunks coming off and flying by the window." He feared the chunks were pieces of his heat shield that might be disintegrating. The chunks were pieces of the retro package breaking up in the reentry fireball.
Due to the fuel used to manually correct the attitude control volumes, the automatic fuel supply was running low. The fuel support ran out before drogue chute deployment. Glenn decided to deploy the drogue chute manually, but just before he reached the switch chute opened automatically at 28,000 feet. The spacecraft regained stability and Glenn reported, "everything was in good shape."
The spacecraft continued to descend on the drogue chute. The antenna section jettisoned and the main chute deployed and opened to its full diameter. Mercury Control reminded Glenn to manually deploy the landing bag. He toggled the switch and the green light confirmation came on. A "clunk" could be heard as the heat shield and landing bag dropped into place, four feet below the capsule.
Friendship 7 had splashed down in the Atlantic about 40 miles short of the planned landing zone. Retrofire calculations had not taken into account spacecraft weight loss due to use of onboard consumables. The USS Noa, had spotted the spacecraft when it was descending on its parachute. The destroyer was about six miles away when it radioed Glenn that it would reach him shortly. The Noa came alongside Friendship 7 seventeen minutes later.
David
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Image Credit / Coolkat
