John Glenn made the first American orbital flight on this date in 1962. I was 13 years old and followed the space program closely. The networks covered the space missions from launch to splashdown back then and I used to sneak my “little” 8 transistor radio (it was about the size of a brick) in to school, run the earphone up my sleeve (no stereo then and only AM stations on the radio). Then I’d rest my head on my hand covering the earphone and listen to the latest information.
Eventually the missions got too long for full time coverage and the public lost some interest in the programs. At the time we were racing to get to the moon we were fighting in Viet Nam and our major cities were having race riots. It was a crazy time to grow up. It all culminated with 1969—the year we landed on the moon, the year the Mets won the world series and the year of Woodstock.
No comments:
Post a Comment