My Dad was at Redstone Arsenal/Huntsville with Dr. Von Braun in the mid 50's teaching a Radar Guidance class for the Army as an E.E. with General Electric. I was born in Huntsville in '56 and then Pop was transferred to The Cape so I grew up in Cocoa Beach. I got up close with the Mercury Astronauts a couple times, once at cook out for a lot of the Engineers and families in which I believe all seven were there except for Wally Schirra. The second time was on Cocoa Beach itself, our family was out hanging under a homemade umbrella with my Dad's '60 Buick on the beach (they used to allow cars in Cocoa Beach back then), and John Glenn and Alan Shepard came jogging by in very short workout shorts and shirtless...They were some very ripped world class athletes...I know it's a different era now of NASA astronaut requirements but every time I see pictures of today's astronauts they look like random people you'd see at the grocery store now compared to Glenn and Shepard running down CB in the early 60's.
My Dad was at Redstone Arsenal/Huntsville with Dr. Von Braun in the mid 50's teaching a Radar Guidance class for the Army as an E.E. with General Electric. I was born in Huntsville in '56 and then Pop was transferred to The Cape so I grew up in Cocoa Beach. I got up close with the Mercury Astronauts a couple times, once at cook out for a lot of the Engineers and families in which I believe all seven were there except for Wally Schirra. The second time was on Cocoa Beach itself, our family was out hanging under a homemade umbrella with my Dad's '60 Buick on the beach (they used to allow cars in Cocoa Beach back then), and John Glenn and Alan Shepard came jogging by in very short workout shorts and shirtless...They were some very ripped world class athletes...I know it's a different era now of NASA astronaut requirements but every time I see pictures of today's astronauts they look like random people you'd see at the grocery store now compared to Glenn and Shepard running down CB in the early 60's.
RIP
He rules