Flyingfortress Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Lost in the threads about stealth choppers, Star Wars Day, abused animals and recovered black boxes, anyone remember today is the 50th Anniversary of Alan Shepards space flight putting us in the Space Race with the Soviets? :salute: Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 No I did not know that but hey that is AWESOME... :worship: Salute to those Guys Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Old Blind Dog Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Was not quite 3 years old at the time, so I don't remember the day specifically--but, growing up over the next few years was very conscious of the space race. It was a great, inspiring time to be a kid. cheers Old Blind Dog Quote Link to post Share on other sites
GreyGhost Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Well, I don't physically remember it, I wasn't born yet ... But I do recall reading about it ... Sure ... Thanks for the reminder, Sean ... Alan Shepard, the first man to golf on the Moon ... Gregg Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dpogson Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 A great achievement indeed and to be celebrated, but I think your orbital avatar isnt right though. Alan did a sub orbital hop of 15 minutes compared to Gagarin's lengthier trip, not a full orbit. Gagarin was short of a full orbit by 1500km. Gherman Titov was the first human to orbit Earth. After that the USSR did several more multi orbit missions. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
dpogson Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 never mind, its a good avatar! And these achievements should be shouted about! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jennings Posted May 5, 2011 Share Posted May 5, 2011 Not quite a year before I was born, so my memories are a bit hazy. Ask me about Apollo 11! *That* I remember! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Les / Creative Edge Photo Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Re: Alan Shepard Shepard receives his medal From the early days of manned space flight to reaching the goal of a manned Lunar landing. A remarkable time in human science, physics and development. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Les / Creative Edge Photo Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 (edited) To follow up on the beginning of the Space Race, but this is one of JFK's best quotes for inspiring the public. We choose to go to the moon. We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too. President John F. Kennedy, September 12, 1962, at Rice University, Houston, Texas P.S. I propose that the US Navy also make it a mission to name its upcoming Aircraft Carriers with first the USS John F. Kennedy and yes another USS Enterprise to replace the current one which will soon retire. After all one day in our future Capt. James Tiberius Kirk will have to command a star ship called the Enterprise. :D Edited May 6, 2011 by Les / Creative Edge Photo Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Steve N Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 The Space Race was in full swing when I was born in '64. The first world even I have any firsthand memory of was the Apollo 11 moon landing. I wish we had kept up the momentum, but nobody seems interested in space exploration anymore. SN Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Docf225 Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 I remember the date but I'm not old enough to remember the event. I, like most everybody else growing up in the 60s & 70s was fascinated by anything space related. I can't tell you the number of orbits my GI Joes made in their Mercury Capsule. Here's a piece of old man trivia. Anybody else have the record albums of the early space program? I remember listening to record albums of the radio traffic between Mission Control and various orbiting ships. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
yardbird78 Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 I can remember sitting in high school Freshman science class listening to news about Sputnik and then later all of the US Space missions. At one time, I could recite all of the US space flights from Shepard's Mercury trip to Apollo 17 by mission number and crew names. The fog of time over memory has obscured most of that now. Darwin Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Yuri Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Oh, I thought you were talking about George Clooney birthday... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Fishwelding Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Lost in the threads about stealth choppers, Star Wars Day, abused animals and recovered black boxes, anyone remember today is the 50th Anniversary of Alan Shepards space flight putting us in the Space Race with the Soviets? :salute: I follow a lot of NASA and tech-geek stuff on Twitter, and there it came up a lot. There's still a lot of Americans enthusiastic about space travel. If they were more politically united... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
IrishGreek Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 I wasn't born either, but my late father was just a couple years in the Navy and was on the carrier that recovered Shepard, which I think he was pretty proud of. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jinxter13 Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 What I remember from that day and those that followed is how much it was covered. At that time we had 3 count'em 3 major news groups...ABC, CBS and NBC and all day this was what you got on all three. The great (RIP) Walter Cronkite, Huntley/Brinkley and others devoted the majority of their shows to it. It was during this time that Mr. Cronkite got his rep...and believe me if Walter Cronkite said it, you could believe it!!!. I believe Chet Huntley and David Brinkley were held in almost as high esteem. From lift off to splashdown the whole shootin' match was covered even the folks in the control room at Cape Kennedy (showin' mah age heah) got some coverage. One photo that sticks in my mind is the shot of him sitting in the Mercury capsule. I didn't realize how small it was until at the Texas state fair I got to see a real Gemini capsule. Talk about cramped quarters...jeeez. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Murph Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 From lift off to splashdown the whole shootin' match was covered even the folks in the control room at Cape Kennedy (showin' mah age heah) got some coverage. Clif, I believe that actually predated the Cape Kennedy name. Regards, Murph Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jinxter13 Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Clif, I believe that actually predated the Cape Kennedy name. Regards, Murph Dang it Murph you are right, that was allllll the way back in the Cape Canaveral days...it was the meds they made me fergit . What are we talking about :D Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Murph Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 If I don't make a conscious effort about it I still call it Cape Kennedy out of habit. Regards, Murph Quote Link to post Share on other sites
A-4Silverfox Posted May 6, 2011 Share Posted May 6, 2011 Watched the entire event in my seventh grade math class. Lift off was from Cape Canaveral. Been a space geek ever since. Still look up at the stars and occasionally actually see a satellite go over. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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