John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, has died at 95. I thought I would start this thread since I have a sort of connection to him through my Dad. My Dad helped train him in the simulator they had in the very early single man Mercury capsule days at NASA. My Dad would work the switches at the board and through all the training scenarios. I have a picture my Dad gave me of the two discussing something while my Dad sat at the board with all the switches and knobs while John Glenn stood near the capsule leaning over it. I always wondered what was going on in that pic.
RIP. I remember in second grade, our entire school stopped everything to watch the Discovery launch. I didn't really understand it too much, but heard the name John Glenn over and over. There were posters and clippings of Mr. Glenn posted around the building. It was surreal. To see something like that, live. I think, subconsciously, as an Indian-American, seeing Mr. Glenn's launch was a symbol of the greatness of this country and how achieving dreams are possible. I am blessed to be an American.
What a year. Those silver suits, as I understand it, were actually kind of army green but NASA decided to spray paint them silver to look more spacey or something. surfguy, is your father still with us?
Yea...my Dad is 79 years old. My avatar picture was probably taken I'm guessing in 1961 before Glenn went up on Feb.20 in 1962...albeit it could have been early 1962. I'm also assuming that pic was taken at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. They didn't move the whole deal to Houston until 1962. Kind of funny....I saw a quote from John Glenn that said the he and the original 7 didn't care for the film "The Right Stuff".
Thanks. I just left you a msg. I'm talking with a lot of those guys these days, trying to get their stories while we still can do so. Email me via the board if you'd be up for that.
Achievements will echo throughout space. Have his authenticated autographed mag 7 card. Doesn't pop up too often on ebay, but not impossible to track down. Pretty affordable too, like $250. Also have Aldrin which was difficult to find, but inexpensive, and Armstrong, which was expensive. Would like to get Schirra and Carpenter. Others are hard to find. You do need to get the autographs authenticated due to the auto pen signing they did in the 60's and 70's, but there a good auto pen web site with all their autographs on it from several different eras that shows the real sig against the auto pens. So I'd say just be careful to get the real thing if you go hunting this week.
