Alan Shepard had the “right stuff”.
He was one of the very elite group of fighter pilots selected to be among the first astronauts. How he got the nod to be the VERY first American in space is probably documented somewhere, but I guess it really doesn’t matter now. All of the others, including John Glenn, the first to orbit the Earth-had to settle for future missions and postponed glory.
Hard to imagine the emotions he was feeling, sitting on top of thousands of pounds of rocket fuel on this date 48 years ago. The Russians had already launched a satellite and a man into space. Now it was OUR turn.
Freedom 7 launched and flew for a total of 15 minutes, but the effect on our national pride and on the way we viewed ourselves was long lasting. NASA had fired its shot in the “space race”…and things would never be the same again.
Here’s a short video of that historic flight nearly a half century ago. I was not yet 3 years old-and so I do not remember the flight. I do know that this infancy of the space race made me a lifelong fan of the space program and fueled my desire as a young boy to become an astronaut. So, I ended up a disc jockey… go figure...anyway, here it is!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCcGREt4faM
If you’d like my blog in your box, just let me know…it’s often out of this world!
Tim.moore@citcomm.com
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