By Ben Evans, on December 15th, 2013 Beautiful view of Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford’s Gemini VI-A spacecraft, viewed by astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell aboard Gemini VII. Schirra’s gutsy decision to sit tight after the 12 December pad abort ensured that this historic rendezvous mission could go ahead. Photo Credit: NASA
“It’s death … or the ejection seat!” For […]
By Ben Evans, on December 14th, 2013 Gemini VII, bearing astronauts Frank Borman and Jim Lovell on a record-breaking 14-day mission, is seen through the windows of Gemini VI-A, with fellow spacefarers Wally Schirra and Tom Stafford. This mission, in December 1965, marked the first ‘true’ rendezvous between two piloted vehicles in orbit. Photo Credit: NASA
Two weeks before Christmas in […]
By Ben Evans, on May 16th, 2013 Atop a converted Atlas intercontinental ballistic missile, America launches its fourth man into orbit on 15 May 1963. Gordon Cooper’s 34-hour, 22-orbit voyage aboard Faith 7 would be NASA’s most challenging space mission to date. Photo Credit: NASA
Early on 14 May 1963, a hotshot pilot lay on his back in a tiny capsule, […]
By Ben Evans, on September 29th, 2012 Wally Schirra looks on as artist Cecelia ‘Cece’ Bibby stencils the Sigma 7 logo onto the side of the spacecraft. “Sigma,” wrote Schirra in his autobiography, “a Greek symbol for the sum of the elements of an equation, stands for engineering excellence. That was my goal – engineering excellence. I would not settle for […]
By Ben Evans, on September 23rd, 2012 Signed image of Dee O’Hara with Wally Schirra’s enormous urine specimen bottle. Photo Credit: NASA/Wallyschirra.com
Urine samples were part and parcel of an astronaut’s medical regimen in the days and weeks surrounding a mission. For the Mercury Seven, their nurse, Dolores ‘Dee’ O’Hara, was all-powerful. The astronauts feared that the doctors, whilst highly educated, […]
By Ben Evans, on September 22nd, 2012 Fifty years ago, Wally Schirra became America’s fifth man in space and only the third to orbit the Earth. His achievement cleared yet another hurdle in the nation’s plan to achieve a piloted lunar landing before the end of the decade. Photo Credit: NASA
On the day that he and six others were publicly […]
By Ben Evans, on July 1st, 2012 Gordon Cooper arrives at the base of the Pad 14 gantry on the morning of 15 May 1963, to become the last man to be launched from this historic site. Photo Credit: NASA
Fifty years ago, America launched its first man into orbit around the Earth. John Glenn spent five hours aloft, completed three […]
By Ben Evans, on June 30th, 2012 Fifty years ago, in 1962, Pad 14 provided the stage for America's first manned orbital mission. Photo Credit: NASA
Fifteen years ago, the 45th Space Wing, based at Patrick Air Force Base in Florida, began the laborious process of restoring one of the most important landmarks in America’s early space programme. Led by Lieutenant-Colonel […]
By Jason Rhian, on May 2nd, 2012 Photo Credit: U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame
Three space shuttle veterans are being inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex on Saturday, May 5 at 3 p.m. The ceremony will be carried like on NASA Television. The three astronauts that will be included into the hall of […]
By Ben Evans, on March 13th, 2012 Deke Slayton might have hoped that the first human steps on the Moon might have been taken by himself. Instead, he would play a crucial role in selecting Neil Armstrong – here shown in the shadow of the lunar module, Eagle – to take those historic steps. Photo Credit: NASA
The year 1969 was […]
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