Reflections
September 1, 1973
It started with a radio in 1961. A man named Gagarin. Coffee going cold. Twelve years later: twelve men on the Moon. I've been paying attention the whole time. I still am. I keep looking up. I keep thinking: next. What's next. Where do we go from here? I hope…
Read the full entry
Reflections
April 1, 1973
I went through my clipping folder last weekend. Seventeen shoeboxes. Twelve years of newspaper articles, radio transcripts, magazine features, mission summaries. Betty watched me spread them across the living room floor and said, "I told you so." She was right. I have a problem. It's a wonderful problem to have.
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
Space Race
April 12, 1961
They beat us. A Soviet man orbited the Earth today and I don't know how to feel about it except wrong-footed and shaken and strangely moved.
Read the full entry