RIP John Glenn

First American to orbit the Earth, died today aged 95. Good innings sir, enjoy the tremendous view.

(sorry for the random thread deletion, I misclicked trying to delete my own)

What a life to have led, *doffscap.

Seriously impressive man/life…his name always reminds me of this tune –

My Star – Ian Brown

Not watching the video but some of the lyrics appear appropriate…

Just read it. RIP Sir! (Well he should be a Sir or whatever the Merican equivalent is, which he probably is)
I reckon he’s gone off to wherever & said, ‘well that was quite a ride!’

Godspeed, and thanks for what you done.

Time to dig out The Right Stuff.

How’s Buzz Aldrin doing after his North pole health scare?

One hell of a life. Ad Astra indeed.

The oldest person to go into space at the age of 77. The next oldest astronaut is Story Musgrave at 61

P.S. Buzz Aldrin was evacuated from the South Pole.

Oh balls another true hero gone. A generation we owe a lot to in terms of courage. The last of a very few select bunch.

…Liston beats Patterson

Just read it. RIP Sir! (Well he should be a Sir or whatever the Merican equivalent is, which he probably is)

He is/was:

In 2011, Glenn received the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian award.
A year later, President Barack Obama presented him with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Mr Obama said in a statement on Thursday that Glenn had “spent his life breaking barriers”.
Nasa tweeted that he was “a true American hero”.

A true hero and pioneer.

The next oldest astronaut is Story Musgrave at 61

I’ve met him, y’know. A gentleman, a proper legend and true genius; because he was bored one day he became a practising brain surgeon as a hobby in his time off.

He told a tale of his last shuttle flight, on re-entry you have to be strapped in on pain of court marshal or some such. Story figured he wanted a souvenir so fished out a contraband camera and hopped up to take some photos out of the back window. NASA were all, eh, it’s just Story, let him get on with it.

I’ve modelled a career on that anecdote, easier to get forgiveness than permission. (-:

All spacefarers are a breed apart Cougar
I was earlier laughing with the mrs on reading this thread, telling the kids about Aldrin one punching out a moon landing denier…

I’ve seen a lot of the early tech first hand.

For me, the single biggest achievement of all of it is that not one astronaut took one look at it and went, “actually, you can **** that right off.”

Even the shuttle bods in relatively recent kit, brave brave souls.

I recommend Mike Mullane’s “Riding Rockets” to anyone who’s interested in this stuff. It’s a compelling read.

Cougar – Moderator
I recommend Mike Mullane’s “Riding Rockets” to anyone who’s interested in this stuff. It’s a compelling read.

Second that! Cried twice in the first chapter, once in laughter…

I guess that was down to selection procedures – they weeded out anybody sane early!

In case that is misinterpreted I should clarify that I’m in awe of those brave enough to strap themselves into a tiny capsule on top of a huge firework.

Oh dear. Another legend.
And ourmaninthenorth – saw what you did there.

total hero – again – time to read/watch the right stuff again. 🙁

Can’t remember who said it but my favourite (paraphrased) quote is in response to the question of what’s going through your mind as you’re strapped into your seat, the engines fire up, and the count goes into single digits…. and the answer

That this thing’s made of millions of tiny components, and the contract for each one went to the lowest bidder.

Nutjobs, one and all. But by heck, what fantastic nutjobs.

RIP JG

You are not wrong there. They were a breed apart. Now the last of The Mercury Seven has gone.

I like the story of Gus Grissom when he arrived in Korea as a rookie fighter pilot. On the bus out to the flight line on his first day he was told to stand up. You only got to sit down if you had been in combat.

Grissom took off and headed north.

The next day he sat down.

RIP

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Shadow_of_the_Moon_(film)

Can’t remember who said it but my favourite (paraphrased) quote is in response to the question of what’s going through your mind as you’re strapped into your seat, the engines fire up, and the count goes into single digits…. and the answer
That this thing’s made of millions of tiny components, and the contract for each one went to the lowest bidder.

That was Al Shepard IIRC.
He also uttered the Astronaut’s Prayer* over a live mic whilst impatiently strapped to the top of a multi-storey bomb with a questionable success record, and when he was asked to repeat it he said “Everything is A-OK, now let’s light this candle!” **

* Google it.
** Could be apocryphal, but a good story anyway.

RIP Sir.

Even the shuttle bods in relatively recent kit, brave brave souls.

Read “Into the Black”. Superb book about the early shuttle missions. Anyone who went on that beast had balls of steel.

And he was married for 73 years. Astonishing

I used to live in Fort Lauderdale in the 70’s, the space race was an epic time to live there. My Dad used to take me to the beaches closest to CK he could get to to watch the Saturn Rockets take off.

Awesome, what a fabulous time to be an Astronaut.

Well done Sir, I watched in Awe.

You are not wrong there. They were a breed apart. Now the last of The Mercury Seven has gone.

A breed apart indeed, true pioneers.

As an aside, the Thunderbirds puppet characters were all named after the Mercury Seven astronauts.

Apart from Deke and Wally.

Godspeed John Glenn

Shouldn’t think so.

?

Time and a place, dude.