RIP: John Glenn

[Michael_ Gee]

The oldest of the Original Seven lived the longest. And with Glenn's death, that closes the chapter on Mercury. All seven have moved on. I was lucky to see all six Mercury launches from the front yard of my house.

That's pretty damn good right there.

 

[UPChip]

JFK put the kibosh on his flying for fear that a tragic accident would take America's space hero.

And maybe he was correct. Could have been (would have been?) Glenn in Apollo 1. NASA really wanted an original Mercury guy to be the first on the moon, and until the Apollo 1 fire it looked to be Grissom by default.

That seems kind of dubious. For one, Glenn was out of NASA before Gemini even began, so it would be pretty hard to extrapolate all the way out to Apollo from there. After Mercury, the three who flew again (Grissom, Wally Schirra and Gordo Cooper) flew Gemini missions in the same order. Grissom was with Ed White on that Gemini mission and with Ed White again in the Apollo 1 fire, so it seems more logical that Glenn would have been slated for the next one. After Grissom's death, Schirra flew Apollo 7, keeping the order intact. However, he had already planned on getting out of NASA after that flight before he started mouthing off to mission control (which ensured the other two guys on that flight never flew again). Shepherd got back on flight status later on, and they basically put him on the first train to the moon after that. It was decided he needed more training, so he flipped with Jim Lovell's crew and thus avoided Apollo 13.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

It's not like the astronauts and the space race have been forgotten. Look at the knowledge displayed here on the board. But I think you really had to be alive and old enough (not that old, first or second grade would do) to appreciate just how enormous Glenn was. He was Lindbergh to the one-millionth power. He was more of a celebrity than the celebrity president. I mean, we talked about him in Sunday school.

 

[Starman]

Yeah, it's kind of an urban legend that JFK nixed Glenn flying again.

None of the Mercury Seven was supposed to go up a second time until everybody had gone up once (Deke Slayton being sidelined by the heart murmur) so there would not have been any repeat flights until Gemini got off the ground (originally scheduled for early 1964 but eventually delayed until 1965).

Alan Shepard was pencilled in for the first Gemini flight and then he started developing the balance/vertigo problem which grounded him until Apollo 14 in 1972, and that slid Gus into the "leading Mercury veteran" slot.

In the middle of all that JFK was assassinated, Glenn had his slip-and-fall bathtub incident, and in the wake of the assassination, Glenn, who was very close to the Kennedy family, especially RFK, was developing political aspirations of his own so he quit NASA and went into politics.

 

[User 11148]

The oldest of the Original Seven lived the longest. And with Glenn's death, that closes the chapter on Mercury. All seven have moved on. I was lucky to see all six Mercury launches from the front yard of my house.

Wow.

 

[Starman]

It's not like the astronauts and the space race have been forgotten. Look at the knowledge displayed here on the board. But I think you really had to be alive and old enough (not that old, first or second grade would do) to appreciate just how enormous Glenn was. He was Lindbergh to the one-millionth power. He was more of a celebrity than the celebrity president. I mean, we talked about him in Sunday school.

It is to laugh now -- when Glenn's presidential hopes rose in the 1980s, one of the objections against him was that he would be unqualified -- a "celebrity president." This after he had been in the Senate a decade or more.

 

[YankeeFan]

It is to laugh now -- when Glenn's presidential hopes rose in the 1980s, one of the objections against him was that he would be unqualified -- a "celebrity president." This after he had been in the Senate a decade or more.

Link?

 

[Starman]

Go look it up yourself.

 

[User 11148]

Perhaps the bitterest day of my youth was the day they told me I had to start wearing glasses. I knew then my dream of being a pilot/astronaut was over.

 

[YankeeFan]

Go look it up yourself.

Did. Found nothing.

You're lying as usual.

And NASA stuff was the one area where you had credibility. Sad!

 

[Starman]

Did. Found nothing.

You're lying as usual.

And NASA stuff was the one area where you had credibility. Sad!

You researched every single quote from the 1980s discussing John Glenn's qualifications, or lack thereof, for the presidency in three minutes?

The topic of Glenn possibly running for president was a matter of public discussion off and on from about 1980 to 88 or so. I guarantee you during that time, some objections were raised on the basis that Glenn did not have sufficient "practical government experience."

Believe it or don't; I don't care.

 

[BTExpress]

It is to laugh now -- when Glenn's presidential hopes rose in the 1980s, one of the objections against him was that he would be unqualified -- a "celebrity president." This after he had been in the Senate a decade or more.

What's laughable is that any Democrat had any serious presidential hopes in the 1980s. Cannon fodder, every one.

 

[MisterCreosote]

Link?

JOHN GLENN: THE HERO AS CANDIDATE

 

[Starman]

Glenn was first elected to the Senate in 1974 and even then there was talk he ultimately aspired to the presidency, so his "celebrity status" was part of that whole running discussion for years and years.

 

[YankeeFan]

JOHN GLENN: THE HERO AS CANDIDATE

Synopsis: Glenn is a celebrity which helps, but isn't a natural politician, and is going up against a better funded and organized candidate in Walter Mondale.

What's missing? That he's unqualified.

 

[MisterCreosote]

Yet Glenn has a long way to go. He is still struggling to fashion a political persona and a cogent platform of ideas upon which to campaign. And for all his nine years in Washington, the Senator is still better known as an icon of the Space Age than as a compelling leader whose speeches and legislation shape public and Congressional opinion. In fact, many Democratic leaders insist that unless Glenn can lift himself to that higher plane occupied by such masterful campaigners as John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, he will be unable to convert his celebrity into enough votes to win the nomination.

 

[Starman]

When Glenn ran for the Senate in 1974 and was then reelected in 1980 it was much commented he was amassing the practical experience which would make him a credible candidate for higher office.

Implying of course that without that experience, he wouldn't be.

 

[YankeeFan]

Yet Glenn has a long way to go. He is still struggling to fashion a political persona and a cogent platform of ideas upon which to campaign. And for all his nine years in Washington, the Senator is still better known as an icon of the Space Age than as a compelling leader whose speeches and legislation shape public and Congressional opinion. In fact, many Democratic leaders insist that unless Glenn can lift himself to that higher plane occupied by such masterful campaigners as John F. Kennedy and Ronald Reagan, he will be unable to convert his celebrity into enough votes to win the nomination.

LOL. That's political criticism.

Similar things were said about Hillary Clinton this cycle.

It's not a claim that he's unqualified for the office.

 

[MisterCreosote]

OK, terrific.

 

[Michael_ Gee]

He was not a successful presidential candidate. Who gives a ****? He was a hero. He means more than the president-elect ever will unless the dumb **** starts a nuclear holocaust.