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The Last of the Mercury Seven
There was no way that I would let the death of John Glenn go unremarked. Though I suspect if you read this, you probably are looking at all the coverage and all the obits and that I can't tell you anything you haven't read.
But how can I not mark the end of an era? We lost a great man, a war hero, a brave astronaut, an accomplished politician, and someone whose life was full of achievement. We also lost the last of the seven men chosen to usher the US into the space age. We lost the first nearly fifty years ago, when Gus Grissom died in the terrible Apollo 1 fire. We lost the last today. The first age of space exploration recedes ever more rapidly into the past, even as we continue to hope that these seven men will inspire us to start the next age soon.
There is not much else to say but that one line uttered by Scott Carpenter and repeated ad infinitum today: Godspeed, John Glenn.
But how can I not mark the end of an era? We lost a great man, a war hero, a brave astronaut, an accomplished politician, and someone whose life was full of achievement. We also lost the last of the seven men chosen to usher the US into the space age. We lost the first nearly fifty years ago, when Gus Grissom died in the terrible Apollo 1 fire. We lost the last today. The first age of space exploration recedes ever more rapidly into the past, even as we continue to hope that these seven men will inspire us to start the next age soon.
There is not much else to say but that one line uttered by Scott Carpenter and repeated ad infinitum today: Godspeed, John Glenn.