Fifty years ago, a fiery blast of rocket fuel catapulted the first American into orbit. John Glenn soared to a peak altitude of 162 miles in the Friendship 7 capsule, lifting the spirits of a populace longing for victory.
Glenn's 1962 flight lasted less than five hours and circled the Earth a mere three times. But it continues to resonate among a generation whose future was transformed by the possibilities of space.
"I was pretty young, but I remember it pretty well," said astronaut Steve Robinson, who grew up in Moraga and is now stationed at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston. He and his family watched the early-morning launch together. "It was pretty exciting to think, 'Wow, this guy's going up in a rocket to go around the world,' " he said. Robinson, then 6, drew a picture of Glenn's rocket that took second place in the San Francisco Chronicle's weekly kid's art contest.
"All the kids wanted to be just like John Glenn," he said.
Glenn's flight not only spurred every kid to imagine flying in space, but it catapulted interest in perpetuating that success.
Jill Tarter, research director at the Mountain View-based SETI Institute, said she, too, was inspired by the opportunities Glenn's flight presented.
"Here we were actually on the path to the 'Flash Gordon' TV shows that I watched as a kid," she said, "This was an opening of the frontier."
Although she was interested in engineering from an early age,
free porn
Legal Pink
Glenn's 1962 flight lasted less than five hours and circled the Earth a mere three times. But it continues to resonate among a generation whose future was transformed by the possibilities of space.
"I was pretty young, but I remember it pretty well," said astronaut Steve Robinson, who grew up in Moraga and is now stationed at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston. He and his family watched the early-morning launch together. "It was pretty exciting to think, 'Wow, this guy's going up in a rocket to go around the world,' " he said. Robinson, then 6, drew a picture of Glenn's rocket that took second place in the San Francisco Chronicle's weekly kid's art contest.
"All the kids wanted to be just like John Glenn," he said.
Glenn's flight not only spurred every kid to imagine flying in space, but it catapulted interest in perpetuating that success.
Jill Tarter, research director at the Mountain View-based SETI Institute, said she, too, was inspired by the opportunities Glenn's flight presented.
"Here we were actually on the path to the 'Flash Gordon' TV shows that I watched as a kid," she said, "This was an opening of the frontier."
Although she was interested in engineering from an early age,
free porn
Legal Pink
