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Stairway to the Stars
b/ Ella Fitzgerald
((play))
OriginalNoise.Org
— NASA
The Original 7 (as they were officially named) was the group of military pilots and engineers who were chosen out of hundreds of applicants after excelling in NASA’s physical and mental tests.
1959
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is created.
(NASA) invites test pilots, from around the United States Armed Services, to join its next generation of military aviators. Although Alan Shepard’s invitation was “lost in the mail,” and he never officially received an offer to join, he had always been on NASA’s list of selections of America’s Original 7 Astronauts.
Known as the Mercury 7, the group was made up of Shepard, John Glenn, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Donald “Deke” Slayton, Malcolm “Scott” Carpenter, Walter “Wally” Schirra and Gordon Cooper. After two years of grueling and dangerous training, Shepard was the one selected to pilot America’s first flight into space, with Glenn, serving as his backup.
But it was a Russian Cosmonaut that made it to space first, and not only did he break free of the Earth’s atmosphere, he went on to complete an orbit, another important first in The Race.
The Launch of Freedom 7 took on a sense of urgency when the Soviet Union launched cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, and the Russians became the first to break free of the Earth’s atmosphere, and significantly, became the first person to orbit the Earth.
— NASA (1961 Film)
Flight To Be Free
The Soviets beat the Americans by less than a month. Shepard’s launch was initially scheduled for May 2, but was rescheduled twice because of bad weather.
May 5, 1961 — Freedom 7 lifted off, carrying Shepard to an altitude of 116 miles (187 kilometers) for a 15-minute, suborbital flight. Because of the placement of the porthole windows on his capsule, Shepard was unable to see the stars, and a filter on his telescope, looking back, made the Earth appear black and white. He was also strapped in too tight to experience weightlessness.
Although The Soviets had reached outer space first, and Gagarin had orbited the Earth, Shepard’s shorter, and suborbital flight had a more significant, worldwide impact. Unlike with Gagarin’s mostly secret mission, Shepard’s launch, flight, and splashdown were broadcast on live television, and seen by millions, all around the World.
While the Russians publicized Gagarin’s name was publicized, many of the details of his flight were kept confidential for years, including the fact that he had he abandoned his capsule, and parachuted to Earth, rather than landing his spacecraft. Shepard was also ceremonially awarded the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, at the White House by president John F. Kennedy.
The Bridge ((page))
BALL OF CONFUSION ((video))
RACE TO SPACE (USA vs USSR)
THE RIGHT STUFF (1983)
The Right Stuff (trailer) 1983
The Right Stuff (trailer) 2020
Tom Wolf
Round And Round
John Glenn Orbits
Feb. 20, 1961 — Friendship 7
Happy Blues For John Glenn
b/ Lightning Hopkins
((play))
— National Geographic
We Choose To Go To The Moon
— .!
USA vs. USSR
The Great Race
—.!
America’s highest flying Eagle Scout
1961
NASA
The Original 7 (Astronauts)
Mercury
Alan Shepard (May 5, 1961)
First American In Space
WE CHOOSE TO GO TO THE MOON
John Glenn (Feb. 20, 1962)
A HARD DAY’S NIGHT (1964)
Gemini
It Takes Two To Rendezvous
Apollo (Tragic Beginnings)
Apollo 8
Christmas Eve 1968
In the beginning,
God created The Heaven and The Earth.
Apollo 11
July 20, 1969
One Small Step For Man
One Giant Leap For Mankind.
Neil Armstrong
Walter Cronkite (CBS)
International Space Station
Shuttle
Hubble (Telescope)
James Webb (2022)
The Cape
Home is where the rockets fly.
Canaveral National Seashore
Titusville, Florida
Mosquito Lagoon
Playalinda Beach
Sacred Ground
Complex #39 A/B
Last Stepping Stone to The Moon
VAB
Merritt Island (Dragon Point)
Tropical Trail
Mather’s Bridge (Indialantic)
COCOA BEACH
Banana River
Indian River (Lagoon)
Citrus
Harvey’s
Rockledge
River Road
THE RIGHT STUFF (1983)
The Right Stuff (trailer) 1983
The Right Stuff (trailer) 2020
Tom Wolf
• “The Bridge”
• ALAN SHEPARD (MAY 5, 1961)
First American In Space
Mercury
The Original 7 Astronauts
May 5, 1961 — Alan Shepard
First American Astronaut In Space
Feb. 20, 1962 — John Glenn
First To Orbit
—.!
Gemini
It Takes Two to Rendezvous
Gemini 4
June 3, 1965
Ed White (Space Walk)
Gemini 8 (Neil Armstrong)
Apollo 8
Earthrise
Christmas Eve
Genesis
Back To Earth
Feet On The Ground
Sunrise
Moonrise
Apollo 11
July 20, 1969
ONE SMALL STEP FOR MAN
Apollo 11 (MoonShot)
WOODSTOCK
VIETNAM
MASH (1970)
Mash (Film) Trailer
All In The Family (1971-79)
Archie & Sammy Davis Jr. ((video))
Blazing Saddles
Young Frankenstein
American Graffiti
Live And Let Die
Wings
Franz Klammer ’76 Olympics
WKRP
Deep Purple
Vanishing Point
FM
— SOUL TRAIN 1971-1979 (Vol.2)
Frederick Douglas brought into the (’70s) now.
• SOUL TRAIN 1971-1979 (Vol.1)
SOUL TRAIN (1971)
Wattstax (1972)
Wattstax (1972) Trailer
Richard Pryor
Dick Gregory
Redd Foxx
Eddie Murphy
Chris Rock
Fly Girls
In Living Color (1990)
Dave Chappelle
1947 — The Muroc Army Air Field in California has test pilots fly high-speed aircraft such as the rocket-powered Bell X-1, but some are killed as a result. After another pilot, Slick Goodlin, demands $150,000 (equivalent to $1,683,000 in 2018) to attempt to break the sound barrier, war hero Captain Chuck Yeager receives the chance to fly the X-1. While on a horseback ride with his wife Glennis, Yeager collides with a tree branch and breaks his ribs, which inhibits him from leaning over and locking the door to the X-1. Worried that he might not fly the mission, Yeager confides in friend and fellow pilot Jack Ridley. Ridley cuts off part of a broomstick and tells Yeager to use it as a lever to help seal the hatch to the X-1, and Yeager becomes the first person to fly at supersonic speed, defeating the “demon in the sky.”
Six years later, Muroc, now Edwards Air Force Base, still attracts the best test pilots. Yeager (now a major) and friendly rival Scott Crossfield repeatedly break the other’s speed records. They frequent the Happy Bottom Riding Club run by Pancho Barnes, who classifies the pilots at Edwards either “prime” (such as Yeager and Crossfield, those who fly the newest and best equipment), or “pudknockers,” the rookie arrivals, which included all NASA’s first recruits.
Gordon “Gordo” Cooper, Virgil “Gus” Grissom and Donald “Deke” Slayton, United States Air Force captains, were among the rookies who hoped they had the right (NASA) stuff.
“No bucks, No Buck Rogers.”
Officials understand, that rather than keep their test program secret, it would be better for fund raising if they promoted the most exciting new program, rather than hide it.
Cooper’s wife, Trudy, and other wives are afraid of becoming widows, but cannot change their husbands’ ambitions and desire for success and fame.
1957 — The Russian satellite Sputnik alarms the United States. Senator Lyndon B. Johnson and military leaders demand that NASA help America defeat the Russians in what was called the Space Race.
The search for the first Americans in space excludes Yeager because he lacks a college degree.
— NASA
1960
The Original Seven
• Mercury 7 Astronauts
• John Glenn
• Alan Shepard
• Wally Schirra
• Scott Carpenter
• Gordon “Gordo” Cooper
• Virgil “Gus” Grissom
• Donald “Deke” Slayton
• Mercury
• Gemini
• Apollo
April 12, 1961 — Yuri Gagarin, the Russian, having been the First Man In Space, inspires a humiliated United States of America. The Original Seven couldn’t have been more motivated to get in the Race to The Moon.
Space Age Heros
May 5, 1961 — Alan Shepard
FREEDOM 7
First “American” In Space
Rocket: Redstone 3
15-minute, sub-orbital flight
February 20, 1962 — John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit the Earth (Mercury/Atlas 6). After surviving a fiery re-entry with a dangerously loose heat shield on his capsule, Glenn splashed down a celebrity. After a ticker-tape parade (5th Ave. NYC), he, his fellow astronauts, and their families became the center of pop culture attention, including a Texas-size celebration in the Sam Houston Coliseum to announce the opening of the Manned Space Center in Houston.
Interview Magazine
Jean Michele Basquiat
American Pop (1980)Although test pilots at Edwards mock the Mercury Astronauts as “spam in a can,” they do recognize that they are no longer the fastest men on Earth. “it takes a special kind of man to volunteer for a suicide mission” Yeager said, “especially when it’s on national TV.”
May 15, 1963 — Cooper has a successful launch (Mercury/Atlas 9) ending the Mercury program. As the last American to fly into space alone, he “went higher, farther, and faster than any other American … for a brief moment, “Gordo” Cooper became the greatest pilot anyone had ever seen.”
Frank Sinatraw/ Count Basie (St. Louis, MO / 1965)
1969
As the war in Vietnam raged hotter than ever, Easy Rider was the Hollywood movie that came to define the time America escaped the most violent and angry decade, but long before the careless sex, drugs, and rock n roll of the 1970s.
Jimi Hendrix laid down a rock n roll foundation that electric guitarist are still building upon today, 50 years later … and he did it mostly between 1967 and 1970, the year he died.
