Mercury
September 12, 1962
President Kennedy spoke at Rice University today. "We choose to go to the Moon not because it is easy, but because it is hard." I read the whole speech in the paper. I read it twice. The neighbor Harold says it's still a waste of money. I told Harold the…
Read the full entry
Mercury
February 20, 1962
John Glenn orbited the Earth three times today. I took a half-day from work and watched on television. When his capsule came down in the Atlantic I realized I had been holding my breath for most of the last four hours. Three orbits. An American in orbit. Finally.
Read the full entry
Mercury
May 26, 1961
President Kennedy told Congress we're going to the Moon. Before the decade is out. That's 1969, eight years from now. The Moon. My neighbor Harold says it's a waste of money. I told Harold that people probably said the same thing about Columbus. Harold said Columbus didn't cost four billion…
Read the full entry
Mercury
May 5, 1961
An American is in space. Alan Shepard, Navy Commander and test pilot, rode Freedom 7 to the edge of space and back this morning. Fifteen minutes and twenty-two seconds. It wasn't an orbit — the Soviets did that weeks ago — but it was something. It was ours.
Read the full entry
Mercury
April 12, 1961
Yuri Gagarin orbited the Earth this morning while I was eating breakfast. The radio announcer said it so matter-of-factly that for a second I thought I heard wrong. I put down my fork and turned up the volume. The Russians put a man in space. First.
Read the full entry