Space Race

Sitting here watching the tributes to John Glen, remembering the original flights and going to Cape Canaveral on our bikes in 1984 and seeing his capsule (or one just like it). Not only was it extremely small, but it looked like it was built in someone's garage! Look closely at the pictures and you will see fender washers screwed on with phillips screws. I was in seventh grade when Alan Sheppard went up, we listened on a radio.

 

Some really brave men during those days. I use to build the models when I was a kid, loved the space program. Saw a ton of the launches. The best though were the shuttle launches from the causeway, close as civilians could get. It would rock you to your bones!

 

Ahhhh, yes, what an interesting time. How many recall (or do a quick search and find out), about the "sputnik crisis?" Yes, you could find a more sophisticated device at your local radio shack, but it ignited a race that didn't stop for years. The USSR was really kicking our butt and making the US very nervous in those days.....and rightly so! They beat us to most every goal in the 60's except for the moon race.

 

Not on first orbit.

 

Russians lost a lot of cosmonauts on the launch pad.
Fantastic time for being a kid, would love to see a manned mission to Mars.

 

Always wanted to watch the space shuttle lift off in person. you can hear and feel it through the screen, so imagine it was pretty intense in person, sorta like being next to a funnycar at launch, shakes you from the inside.

 

I think we should make The Donald, Ambassador in Residence to The Moon. Pretty sure they have Twitter up there for his acronyms, emojies & 40 character edicts. Beam him up Mr. Scott!

Keep in mind that even though the conspiracy nuts claim the US "Media" is controlled by some group out of a James Bond flick, the news coming out of the old USSR was under the control of dudes like Kruschev. So what we know about the Russkies may or may not be accurate. "Manned" Spaceflight does not mean petri dishes, dogs or chimps.

 

I was at a computer store in Simi Vally back in the 80's when RocketDyne decided to test a shuttle engine up in the hills, unbelievable sound! The plate glass windows were shaking violently!
Gator you were lucky to see the real thing!

 

Yeah it was intense, makes a funnycar seem like a Pinto with a stock exhaust in comparison. People would actually cry. The best were from the causeway at night. The giant flames and sound would just smack you. I was lucky to see a launch from a jet. Heading home we were passing the Cape and the pilot said to look east. Unbelievable to see in coming up below us and arch to the east as it got near level with the plane, probably a little over 30k' up. We were looking right into the rocket engines.

 

During the years the the Shuttles serviced the Russian space station Mir there were a lot of night launchs. When it was going to meet it the trajectory was more SE than east and it flew closer to the coast for some spectacular views, all the way down to near Miami.

 

I had a customer in Seattle whose wife was John Glenn's secretary for many years. Sometimes the speeches upon the demise of our real heros, characterize them as the perfect boy scouts when in fact these guys are highly competitive and can lay on an asswhipping with the best of them. Glenn was also a Marine..

 

Actually, they did orbit first. Ever heard of Yuri Gagarin? Not only did the USSR make it to space first, they orbited with the first manned mission. Alan Shepard (first American in space), only went into space and came back down, but did not achieve orbit.

 

It sure would, but they sure do have HUGE obstacles to overcome. The frailty (and adverse effects) of the human body being the biggest one.

 

During my stint in Toronto, got to see the Columbia land for the first time. I was working for a Design/Build firm, and someone had a TV set up in the design dept. What a great feeling, after years of the Canadian/American debate, I knew there was no greater country than the good old USA, so proud to be an American.

 

I heard the whole thing was done on a set somewhere on the Arizona Desert.

 

You could probably verify that infowars.com

 

He had the right stuff for sure. I watched the Challenger blow up live in person and I will say that John Glenn and all the astronauts (regardless of their sex or nationality) have bigger balls than all of us combined. If you're ever in Florida this is a good place to pay your respects: https://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/explore-attractions/heroes-and-legends/us-astronaut-hall-of-fame

 

Roger that, oh well we went to the moon 1st. lol

 

[video=youtube_share;-f_DPrSEOEo]https://youtu.be/-f_DPrSEOEo[/video]

 

The space race actually started in the closing days of WWII. The US and the Russians were both trying to get their hands on the V2 and Wernher Von Braun...the US won that round and that's where it all started.