“In the Beginning, God Created the Heaven and the Earth.”
“For Earth Below”
Robin Trower
((( >>> )))
[FROM THE TOP]
EARTHRISE — Bill Anders (Apollo 8)
DISCOVERY @ HUB’S INN — dave (1988)
“RIVER ROAD” — In their careers, both brothers, Harold and Sam Newton [Highwaymen]* frequented the Space Coast, and painted a number of scenes along the “River Road” in Cocoa and Rockledge, Florida.
CONTACT — Carl Sagan’s Cosmic Message In A Bottle
VINTAGE ’60s SPACE COAST (((VIDEO))) —
Project Mercury
The Winged Messenger
Alan Shepard — First American in Space (MAY 5, 1961)
John Glenn — First to Orbit (FEB. 20, 1962)
Project Gemini
It takes two to rendezvous
Ed White — “I Went Walkin” (June 3, 1965)
Project Apollo
Apollo 11 — “One Small Step for Man, One Giant Leap for Mankind.” The words spoken by Neil Armstrong as he stepped onto the surface of THE MOON. (July 20, 1969).
For All Mankind (1989)
The Right Stuff (1983)
Moonshot (1994)
MOONSHOT (PT1)
MOONSHOT (PT2)
From The Earth To The Moon (1998)
From The Earth To The Moon (1958)
movies
THE ROCKY HORROR PICTURE SHOW*
The Movie With No End
space & time
ALAN SHEPARD (Starrider)
JOHN GLENN (Round and Round)
1961 — ORIGINAL 7 ASTRONAUTS
TIME & SPACE
MERCURY (MESSAGE & MESSENGER)
GEMINI (IT TAKES TWO TO TANGO)
APOLLO (LURE OF THE MOON)
1969 — VOODOO ASSASSINATION & HOPE
SPACE COAST (NASA) TIMELINE
1959 — NASA / NASCAR
DAYTONA 500
MINUTEMAID
The Cocoanuts (1929)
King Kong (1933)
Tarzan and His Mate (1934)
Fantasia (1940)
The Day The Earth Stood Still (1951)
Earthrise
FOR EARTH BELOW
SPACE COAST
HOME IS WHERE THE ROCKETS FLY [ 1.]
HOME IS WHERE THE ROCKETS FLY [ 2.]
NAKED LAUNCH
Pretty As A Florida Picture
Indian River Fruit
ORANGES b/JOHN McPHEE
ORANGE CRATE ART*
LILLY AND HIGHWAYMEN IN SPACE*
A Beach For All Seasons*
SUMMER (MORE THAN A BREAK)
SPACE COAST (NASA) TIMELINE
a.lligator*
PG.1 — FROM THE BEGINNING
PG.2 — RIDE CAPTAIN RIDE
PG.3 — INTO THE FUTURE [’80S]
PG.4 — To The Moon
PG.5 — LOST IN SPACE
Apollo 8
Earthrise By Bill Anders
Christmas Eve 1968
Dark Side of The Moon
Summer ’69*
1968 — For Earth Below (APOLLO 8)
1969 — Gator On The Moon (APOLLO 11)
1971 — Space Truckin’ (APOLLO 14)
A Beach For All Seasons*
SUMMER (MORE THAN A BREAK)*
Apollo 11
JULY 1969 — ALLIGATOR MOON
JULY 08 — GATOR IN WAITING
JULY 11 — TENURE MATTERS
JULY 15 — ANXIOUS MOON
JULY 18 — LUNAR REST AND RELAXATION
JULY 22 — PIONEER STROLLING
JULY 25 — HOME AGAIN
The “Astro” MixTapes
MOON SHOT [PLAYLIST]*
MOON SHOT (PBS) [VIDEO]*
MOON [PLAYLIST]*
EARTH (PLAYLIST)*
The Ultimate Ride*
On The Alligator Road
w/ Charles Kuralt*
FLORIDA SUGAR
How Sweet Is It*
The Marstons Have Landed*
A1A*
Ride along the Atlantic Coast
SR50*
Weeki Wachee to The Moon
Day Tripping (#1.)*
Mysteries In The Florida Jungle
Day Tripping (#2.)*
Weeki Wachee to the Moon [SR50]
Apollo 14
FEBRUARY 3, 1971
Special Delivery
Back To The Moon
Artemis
APRIL 1, 2026 — After fifty five years, NASA sends men (and women) back to the Moon. (((VIDEO))) See it like a Native, including the drive north on Indian River Drive (The River Road) to the 1880s church, with a widow’s watch with a clear view of the Sacred Ground, across the Indian River Lagoon.
SPACEX (MARCH 31, 2026)
ARTEMIS (K’S BEACH)
ARTEMIS (A MOON TO REMEMBER)
ARTEMIS (IN THE SHADE
[FROM THE TOP]
Space Coast (Early ’60s)
Surfing Hollow Days
Alan Shepard*
John Glenn*
1961 — SPACE RACE
Ed White*
1969 — VOODOO, ASSASSINATION, AND HOPE
1970 — Bitches Brew
1971 — Apollo 14
Alan Shepard piloted Apollo 14 to the Moon, making him the only one of the Orginal 7 NASA astronauts who also went to the Moon. In addition to piloting the mission, conducting a number of scientific taks on the surface of the moon, he also hit a few 9-irons, and delivered the first newspaper to the Moon … A special edition of Cocoa TODAY, Florida’s Space Age Newspaper.
FLORIDA TIMELINE (RAW)
ART & LITERATURE
ALLIGATOR TIME
NASA TIMELINE
Tom Wolfe’s book (movie) “The Right Stuff” is one of the best told stories about America’s Space Program. Specifically, the Mercury Program, and the original seven astronauts who were first to reach outer space, looking down, free from the Earth’s atmosphere.
“Destination Moon“
(TIMELINE)
Dina Washington ’62
((( >>> )))
•OriginalNoise.Org
the players 
the bridge
Lost In Space
OoH Josh! Look at the ball of fire.
Look at the ball of fire!
Space Coast, Florida
Space Coast, Florida
Cape Canaveral
Cocoa Beach
Banana River
Merritt Island
Mosquito Lagoon
Indian River
Tropical Trail
Dragon Point
The Cape
TITUSVILLE
Sand Point
Canaveral National SeaShore
Playalinda Beach
Apollo Beach (Vintage Nude)
Naked Launch
Cocoa Beach
Indian River
Gemini 1
IT TAKES TWO TO RENDEZVOUS (April 8, 1964)
Gemini 4
WEIGHTLESS STROLLING (June 3, 1965)
Gemini 8
NEIL ARMSTRONG’S DEATH SPIRAL (March 16, 1966)
Destination Moon
Apollo 1
TRAGIC BEGINNING
Feb. 21, 1967
Well, on the night I was born, I swear the Lord turned The Moon a Fire Red.”
“Voodoo Child”
Jimi Hendrix
Electric Ladyland
1968 — Voodoo, Assassination, War & Hope.
((( >>> )))
“Earthrise” by Bill Anders (Apollo 8)
Earthrise
1968 — The first human beings to see the Dark Side of The Moon were the astronauts aboard Apollo 8, the first to complete a Lunar Orbit. Most dramatic, as they once again saw the light, it was an illuminated planet Earth, like a shiny blue marble floating free in the blackness of space.
Space & Time
HOME IS WHERE THE ROCKETS FLY
EARTHRISE
Where I Come From
SPACE COAST
Home Is Where The Rockets Fly
NAKED LAUNCH
Pretty As A Florida Picture
ORANGES
Indian River Fruit
ORANGES (CONT’D)
NASA TIMELINE
SUMMER (MORE THAN A BREAK)
Well, on the night I was born, I swear the Lord turned The Moon a Fire Red. — Jimi Hendrix (“Voodoo Child”)
Woodstock
Three Days of Peace and Music
Crosby Stills Nash and Young
1969 —
((( >>> )))
Woodstock Music Festival
Within a month of Neil Armstrong stepping on the moon, the legendary Woodstock Music Festival (“Three Days Of Peace And Music”) was lived on a farm in Upstate New York (August 15-17).
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.
Everyone’s Gone To The Moon
Nina Simone
1969 — Nina Simone and Piano
((( >>> )))
APOLLO 13
THE LONGEST 7 DAYS
April 11-17, 1970
The Meaning of Pop
(American Pop)
Interview Magazine
Basquiat
The Doors
Men In Black 3 …
John F. Kennedy (JFK)
PT-109 — 1963 (McHale’s Navy)
Some Like It Hot — 1959
Marilyn Monroe
James Dean
Camelot
Jackie O
Bay Of Pigs — April 17-21, 1961
Cuban Missiles — October 1962 (Matinee)
Where’s The Boys Are (Yankee Clipper)
Goldfinger
“Going Back To Miami”
b/ Wayne Cochran (1966)
Miami Go Go
Playboy After Dark
Muhamad Ali
The Beatles
One Night In Miami
Clambake (1967)
PAN AM (TV Series)
Eastern Airlines
Liberty City Riot (1968)
Richard Nixon
Republican National Convention (1968)
Jim Morrison (Melbourne High School / Miami)
Republican National Convention (1972)
Murph The Surf (Jack Roland Murphy)
Ross Allen
Jack Horkheimer: Star Hustler — “Naked-Eye” astronomy television show (1976-1985) and was broadcast nationally in 1985. Created, produced and written by Horkheimer, the show changed its name to Jack Horkheimer: Star Gazer in 1997 because Internet searches were producing results for the adult magazine Hustler. Horkheimer was known nationally for his commentaries about “astronomical events.” He was a science commentator for local Miami news station, starting in 1973. A 1982 viewing event for the Jupiter Effect inadvertently resulted in a nighttime riot due to media coverage beyond Horkheimer’s control. In 1986, he helped promote an event for viewing Halley’s Comet, traveling towards the equator aboard the supersonic airliner Concorde. He appeared on CNN several times, narrating Solar Eclipses and even hosted shows on Cartoon Network.
Miami Vice
Madonna
Versace
Prince
November 27, 2009 — Space Shuttle Atlantis (STS-129) landing on runway 33 at Kennedy Space Center
John Glenn
Wally Schirra
Scott Carpenter
Gordon “Gordo” Cooper
Virgil “Gus” Grissom
Donald “Deke” Slayton
Six years later, Muroc, now Edwards Air Force Base, still attracts the best test pilots. Yeager (now an Air Force major) and friendly rival Scott Crossfield repeatedly break each other’s speed records. They frequent the “local” pilots bar, Happy Bottom Riding Club run by an old timer named Pancho Barnes, who classifies Edwards pilots either “prime” (such as Yeager and Crossfield) that fly the best equipment or newer “pudknockers” who only dream about it.
Gordon “Gordo” Cooper
Virgil “Gus” Grissom and
Donald “Deke” Slayton, captains of the United States Air Force, are among the “pudknockers” who hope to also prove that they have “The Right Stuff.”
“No bucks, no Buck Rogers.”
Officials understand, that rather than keep their test program secrect, it would be better for funding if they promoted the most exciting new program.
Cooper’s wife, Trudy, and other wives are afraid of becoming widows, but cannot change their husbands’ desire for success, winning, and fame.
The Great Race
1957 — The Russian satelliteSputnik alarms United States Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, and demands that military leaders to help NASA in its effort to beat the Russians in what was called the Space Race.
The search for the first American Astronauts excludes Yeager because he lacks a college degree.
Mercury
1957-1963
Oct. 4, 1957 — The Soviet Union stunned the world with the launch of the first satellite, Sputnik 1. Like a starting pistol, the race to space was on. The Russians had fired the first shot, and NASA (The United States first human spacewas inspired to found Project Mercurythe following year with the intent of gaining the global edge in space, and Project Mercury was the first human spaceflight program of the United States. Its goal: Put a man in orbit around Earth.
Oct. 1, 1958 — The National Aeronautics and Space Administration begins operation.
Oct. 11, 1958 — Pioneer 1 is the first NASA launch from Cape Canaveral. The spacecraft is intended to reach the moon but doesn’t make it.
Dec. 18, 1958 — An Air Force Atlas booster places into orbit a communications relay satellite, Project SCORE. On Dec. 19, President Eisenhower’s Christmas message is broadcast from this satellite, the first time a voice is beamed from space.
March 3, 1959 — Pioneer 4 is sent to the moon, successfully making the first U.S. lunar flyby.
April 9, 1959 — NASA introduces the Mercury astronauts: Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Gus Grissom, Walter Schirra, Alan Shepard and Donald Slayton. Today, Glenn and Carpenter are the last surviving members of the Mercury 7.
May 28, 1959 — The United States launches two monkeys, Able and Baker, aboard a Jupiter missile and recovers them after a suborbital flight.
April 1, 1960 — The United States launches TIROS 1, the first successful meteorological satellite, for monitoring Earth’s weather.
April 12, 1961 — Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin becomes the first man in space and the first to orbit Earth. He tells ground control, ‘The Earth is blue. How wonderful. It is amazing.’ This development prods NASA to accelerate its program.
May 5, 1961 — Alan Shepard becomes the first American to fly in space, on the Freedom 7 suborbital shot from Cape Canaveral.
May 25, 1961 — President Kennedy commits the United States and NASA to landing on the moon by the end of the decade.
Feb. 20, 1962 — John Glenn becomes the first American to orbit Earth, making 3 orbits in his Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft.
Gemini
1961-1966
With the success of Mercury, the United States turned its attention toward gearing up for a mission to the moon. Gemini’s objective was to develop the techniques needed for deep-space exploration.
Feb. 1, 1964 — NASA completes its land acquisition on Merritt Island, totaling about 88,000 acres.
March 23, 1965 — Astronauts Gus Grissom and Orlando’s John Young make the first Gemini flight with astronauts on board.
April 14, 1965 — A topping-out ceremony is held on the roof of the 36-story Vehicle Assembly Building.
May 26, 1965 — Kennedy Space Center headquarters opens.
June 3-7, 1965 — The 2nd piloted Gemini mission, Gemini 4, stays aloft for 4 days. Astronaut Ed White performs the first American spacewalk.
July 14-15, 1965 — Mariner 4 arrives at Mars and passes within 6,118 miles of the planet’s surface after an 8-month journey. This mission provides the first close-up images of the red planet.
Dec. 15, 1965 — Gemini 6A and Gemini 7 achieve the first space rendezvous, coming within 0.3 meters of each other but never touching. The spacecraft stay in close proximity for 5 hours.
March 16, 1966 — Gemini 8. First space docking, a most complicated and necessary capability if NASA were ever to land a man on the moon. In Gemini 8’s attempt to rendezvous with an unmanned Aegean that was launched within an hour of that carrying pilot David Scott and command pilot Neil Armstrong. In the attempt to dock, the Gemini capsule went into a accelerated, uncontrollable spin, and just before he and Scott would pass out and be listed as casualties, Armstrong took manual control of the capsule’s thrusters, and feathered it to calm and stability. His saving the mission was a most vivid display of the ice-in-the-veins quality NASA always felt necessary in a man who could fly, land, and walk on The Moon.
June 1966 — The Surveyor spacecraft lands on the moon.
Nov. 11-15, 1966 — The 12th and final flight of the Gemini program. Underwater training is introduced for spacewalk preparation. Astronauts mark Gemini’s finale by wearing signs on their backs: Alan Lovell’s reads ‘THE,’ Buzz Aldrin’s reads ‘END.’
Gemini 4, Ed White became the first American to make an extravehicular activity (EVA, or “spacewalk”) on June 3, 1965.
Gemini 5 (August 21–29, 1965) demonstrated the 8-day endurance necessary for an Apollo lunar mission with the first use of fuel cells to generate its electrical power.
Gemini 6A accomplished the first space rendezvous with its sister craft Gemini 7 in December 1965, with Gemini 7 setting a 14-day endurance record for its flight.
Gemini 8 achieved the first space docking with an unmanned Agena target vehicle.
Gemini 10 established that radiation at high altitude was not a problem, further demonstrated the ability to rendezvous with a passive object, and was the first Gemini mission to fire the Agena’s own rocket. Michael Collins would be the first person to meet another spacecraft in orbit, during his second successful EVA.
Gemini 11 first direct-ascent (first orbit) rendezvous with an Agena Target Vehicle, docking with it 1 hour 34 minutes after launch. Set a crewed Earth orbital altitude record of 739.2 nautical miles (1,369.0 km) in September 1966, using the Agena target vehicle’s propulsion system. This record still stands as of 2022.
Gemini 12, Edwin “Buzz” Aldrin became the first space traveler to prove that useful work (EVA) could be done outside a spacecraft without life-threatening exhaustion, due to newly implemented footholds, handholds, and scheduled rest periods.
Apollo
1961-1975
The accomplishments of Apollo are among humankind’s greatest. Six missions land men on the moon between 1969 and 1972, the only time humans have ventured onto another celestial body. The program also is marred by NASA’s first tragedy on the ground (Apollo 1) and a near tragedy in space (Apollo 13). Apollo-Soyuz — Apollo’s End.
Jan. 27, 1967 — Three astronauts (Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee) die during a simulation aboard Apollo 1. A flash fire broke out in the capsule and flames engulfed it on the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center.
Nov. 9, 1967 — The Saturn V — a 363-foot rocket capable of 6 million pounds of thrust — makes its maiden flight.
Apollo 8
“Earthrise”
Dec. 24, 1968
Dec. 21-27, 1968 — Apollo 8, carrying a 3-man crew, circumnavigates the moon. It is the first manned spacecraft to leave the gravitational influence of Earth.
July 16-24, 1969 — Apollo 11 launches. On July 20, it lands on the lunar surface. Astronauts Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin walk on the moon.
April 11-17, 1970 — About 56 hours into the flight of Apollo 13, the oxygen tank in the service module ruptures and damages several of the power, electrical and life-support systems. The crew returns safely to Earth.
1971 — NASA and the U.S. Air Force begin collaboration on the space shuttle project.
Feb. 5, 1971 — Apollo 14 lands on the moon, commanded by Alan Shepard. He is the only astronaut from Project Mercury to reach the moon. Also notable was they carried a number of seed pods into space in the first study related to agriculture in space. Hoping to find a way for astronauts to grow their own food, a capability seen as essential in any imagined planetary travel. When Apollo 14 returned to Earth, the seeds were given to a number of laboratories and research facilities around the country to see if and how they grew. The University of Florida was among those chosen, and it planted its seeds in undetermined locations around the UF campus. [STORY]
July 30, 1971 — Apollo 15 lands on the moon. Astronauts stay for 3 days, exploring the surface with the first lunar rover.
July 23, 1972 — Landsat 1 is launched from Kennedy Space Center to perform an Earth resource mapping mission.
Dec. 7-19, 1972 — Apollo 17 is the last mission to the moon.
May 14, 1973 — Skylab, a small orbital space platform, is launched. Skylab became home to 3 crews during 1973-74 for periods of 28, 59 and 84 days, respectively.
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, taking place (July 15-24, 1975) at the height of the Cold War, is the first joint international human spaceflight effort.
Viking 1 and Viking 2 (August and November 1975) —are launched from Kennedy Space Center on a trip to Mars. Both land there the following year.
Voyager
1977 — Voyager 1 is launched (August 20) is launched from Cape Canaveral, followed by Voyager 2 on Sept. 5. Eventually the two Voyagers explore all the giant outer planets and 48 of their moons.
Space Shuttle
1973-2011 — NASA enters a new era when it rolls out the first winged reusable spacecraft. Called the space shuttle, it can make multiple flights into orbit and be piloted by astronauts. It plays a crucial role in building the international space station. The shuttle era also sees numerous spectacular unmanned science missions to other planets and advances in technology such as the Hubble Space Telescope.
August-October 1977 — Shuttle orbiter Enterprise undergoes unpowered flight tests.
April 12, 1981 — Astronauts John Young and Robert Crippen fly space shuttle Columbia’s maiden voyage. A success in its launch from Cape Cannaveral, making 36 Earth orbits, and landing safely at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
June 18-24, 1983 — On the 7th shuttle mission, Sally Ride becomes the first American woman in space.
Aug. 30, 1983 — Aboard Challenger, Guion S. Bluford becomes the first black astronaut.
Jan. 28, 1986 — Challenger is destroyed and its 7 crew members are lost. An explosion 73 seconds into the flight is caused by a leak in one of 2 solid rocket boosters that ignited the main fuel tank.
Sept. 29, 1988 — Discovery marks the successful return to flight for the shuttle program.
Oct. 18, 1989 — The Galileo spacecraft is launched to Jupiter. In 1996, data from Galileo reveals that Jupiter’s moon Europa may harbor ‘warm ice’ or even liquid water.
April 24, 1990 — The Hubble Space Telescope is launched.
June 27-July 7, 1995 — Shuttle Atlantis docks to the Mir space station, the first of 9 shuttle-Mir linkups between 1995 and 1998.
1998 — Work begins on the international space station, a joint project between the United States, Russia, Japan, Canada and 11 European countries.
Oct. 29, 1998 — At 77, John Glenn, aboard shuttle Discovery, becomes the oldest person to go into space.
July 22-27, 1999 — Eileen Collins becomes the first woman to command a shuttle mission.
Feb. 1, 2003 — Columbia disintegrates 15 minutes before its scheduled landing, killing the 7 crew members.
Jan. 14, 2004 — President Bush announces a goal to return humans to the moon by 2020, in preparation for human exploration of Mars.
July 26, 2005 — Discovery marks NASA’s return to human spaceflight after the Columbia tragedy.
May 25, 2008 — Mars Phoenix probe joins 2 rovers that have been exploring the planet since January 2004. In July 2008, Phoenix confirms the presence of water ice on Mars.
Tom Wolfe’s book (movie) “The Right Stuff” is one of the best told stories about America’s Space Program. Specifically, the Mercury Program, and NASA’s (Original 7) the first Astronauts to reach Outer Space.
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.”
Lockheed NF-104A, Yeager attempts to set a new altitude record in a brand new Lockheed NF-104A that would take him to the edge of space. As he climbed to where he could see out of the Earth’s atmosphere, the 104A’s engine stalled, and Yeager had to eject. Yeager survived the fall, and although never making it to outer space, he made it clear to all who knew him, that he, more than any, no doubt what Tom Wolfe called … The Right Stuff.
May 15, 1963 — Gordon Cooper’s successful launch (Mercury/Atlas 9) ended the Mercury program. As the last American to fly into space, solo, Cooper “flew higher, farther, and faster than any American before, and for a brief moment, he was the greatest pilot anyone had ever seen.”
Frank Sinatra
“Live at The Sands”
The Rat Pack
Jerry Lewis (“The Bellboy)
Miami Beach (“When The Beach Was Hot”)
Fontainebleau (Victoria’s Secret)
Magic City
Eden Roc
Eva Gardner“Tony Rome”Arthur Godfrey
Jackie Gleason
“The Honeymooners” (Steve Madden)
Wayne Cochran (“Going Back To Miami”)
The Fort Lauderdale Strip
Where The Boys Are.
C.C. Riders
Jaco Pastorius
In The (Fort Lauderdale) Ghetto
“Sputnik” flew over, and the race was on.
Space Coast
1969 —
Mosquito Lagoon/
Indian River/ CITRUS
Banana River Drive/
Tropical Trail/ Royal Poinciana
Dragon Point/
Satellite Beach
Indialantic/ 5th Ave./ US 192
SURF WARS
Melbourne Beach/
Sebastian Inlet
Vero Beach/ Spring Baseball
Fort Pierce/ The Highwaymen
USA vs. USSR
(NASA) invites test pilots, from around the United States Armed Services to join the newest generation of explorers. Although Alan Shepard was on the list, his invitation was misplaced and he didn’t officially receive an offer to join. Regardless, he was selected to be one of the first seven American Astronauts.
Known as the Mercury 7, Alan Shepard, John Glenn, Virgil “Gus” Grissom, Donald “Deke” Slayton, Malcolm “Scott” Carpenter, Walter “Wally” Schirra, and Gordon Cooper. From this group (all experienced fighter jet pilots), Alan Shepard was chosen to command the first flight into space. John Glenn was prepared as Shepard’s backup.
While America waited, the stakes were raised
(April 15, 1961) when the Soviet Union launched Yuri Gagarin, the first human (Russian Cosmonaut) to orbit the Earth.
Flight To Be Free
The Soviet Union was first to escape the Earth, but America was quick to respond. Three weeks later, after bad weather cancelled two scheduled launches, Shepard was ready to fly.
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, the first American in space was unable to catch a glimpse of the stars, and he was strapped in too tight to experience weightlessness. Also, a filter left on the periscope window made the Earth appear black and white.
AlthoughThe Sovietshad reached the historic milestone first, and Gagarin had achieved a longer orbital flight, Shepard’s suborbital flight still made a significant worldwide impact. Unlike with Gagarin,Shepard’s launch, flight, and splashdown were watched on live television by millions of people, around the World.
Shepard, the first American to reach outer space, was an overnight hero, and president John F. Kennedy awarded him the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, in a ceremony on the White House lawn.
1960
“I Wanted To Be A Spaceman”
Son of Schmilsson
((( radio )))
“My Fellow Astronauts”
Alex Skolnick
(((play)))
sg
Alan Shepard — First American In Space
May 5, 1961
15-minute, sub-orbital flight, rocket: Redstone 3
John Glenn
— First Boy Scout To Orbit The Earth
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.
The Original 7
• THE MERCURY 7:
AMERICA’S ORIGINAL ASTRONAUTS (1959)
Light This Candle
• ALAN SHEPARD:
FIRST AMERICAN IN SPACE (May 5, 1961)
That View Is Tremendous
• JOHN GLENN:
FREEDOM 7, FIRST TO ORBIT (Feb. 20, 1962)
Frank Sinatra w/ Count Basie (St. Louis, MO / 1965)
Florida 1840
Look
to see
((LISTEN)) to hear
— dave.
“I Can See Clearly Now”
1974 — Johnny Nash
I Can See Clearly Now
((( radio)))
“Hit The Road Jack”
1960 — Ray Charles
(((song)))
— JFK
“We Choose To Go To The Moon”
Sept. 12, 1962 — President John F. Kennedy’s challenge to put a man on the moon and bring him home safely by the end of the 1960s, was enough to unify a country in a common goal of beating the Soviet Union to the Moon. In the end, NASA, and a highly motivated America met JFK’s (by-the-end-of-the-decade challenge,) and realized his, and every other young boy’s dream to walk on the Moon.
Nov. 22, 1963 — Kennedy, assassinated the next year, wouldn’t live to see it. The president’s imagination and inspiration survived the day (Nov. 22, 1963), and his dream was realized (July 20, 1969) when Neil Armstrong took his “one small step for man,” six months before JFK’s end-of-the-decade deadline.
The United States had won the U.S. vs. U.S.S.R. race to The Moon, and remains the only country to have lived the dream. Over the course of the Apollo Program’s remaining five years, 12 American Astronauts walked on The Moon.
From the time he was a little boy, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, like most imaginative thinkers, was captivated by the Moon.
Intrigued and mystified by the way it randomly moved across the sky. Sometimes rising at night, sometimes at dawn. Shining Red, Yellow, Orange, or Blue. Full, Half, and Crescent. Big and small, near and far, JFK’s wonder was the same as everyone. Those who once seeing it, the Moon’s presence is always known, so too imagining what it would feel like to stand on the surface, looking back at the Earth.
Dark Side of The Moon
Life Magazine
Colors …
This is a Voyage into Sound
inst. of change (ELECTRIC GUITAR)
the players
THE INSTRUMENTS OF NOISE.
The Original Color of Sin (BLUE)
B.LUE