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John Glenn has died

dispatch.com

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Re: John Glenn has died

#51

Post by mikeash »

jason_slack wrote: post #7

RIP. I have to wonder, these first missions, did the astronauts have any assurance they would make it back to earth? What was it like to say goodbye to family, not knowing if you would return or not. Am I way off here? Was this mission uncertain or did NASA have reasonable assurances?

They're still quite uncertain. The most recent time somebody didn't make it back was less than 14 years ago, and it'll happen many times in the future unless there's a sudden halt to manned spaceflight.

What's really interesting to me are how little they really knew about the basics. Stuff like the rocket and the heat shield are pretty obvious, but for example they had no way to be sure that humans could even survive being in orbit at all. They sent animals first so they had some confidence, but they couldn't really be sure until they tried it.

Re: John Glenn has died

#52

Post by jdavis703 »

jason_slack wrote: post #7

RIP. I have to wonder, these first missions, did the astronauts have any assurance they would make it back to earth? What was it like to say goodbye to family, not knowing if you would return or not. Am I way off here? Was this mission uncertain or did NASA have reasonable assurances?

There are rumors that the Soviet space program actually sent several humans to space before Yuri Gagarin became the first man to be sent into space and make it back alive (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lost_Cosmonauts). The USSR was known to send cosmonauts on known doomed missions, for instance Gagarin tried to volunteer for one mission knowing the government wouldn't risk killing a national -- and world -- hero and hoped they would cancel the mission: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soyuz_1.

Re: John Glenn has died

#53

Post by rmason »

viewer5 wrote: post #28
rmason wrote: post #14

John Glenn was one of my boyhood heroes. I remember as a young boy listening to reports of him taking off and making those three orbits of the earth. My uncle gave me a crystal radio shaped like Glenn's Friendship 7 capsule that ignited a fierce passion into radio that led to a ham radio license and a lifelong interest in science. It was a time in America when the future seemed endless, anything was possible. A lot h…

Would you mind talking about your passion for radio? It's not something I've really thought about (beyond a general, taking-it-for-granted "hey this is handy, I'm glad we have this in our repertoire of technology"), so I'd love to hear about your love.

Ham radio isn't just a single hobby but multiple hobbies under a single banner. Initially I was interested in building things, to go from a handful of parts and a roll of solder to a completed device.

Then I got interested in communicating, talking to people all over the world. With the net that seems perfectly normal, but it was a different world back then. I made friends from all over, some of whom came to visit me.

For a while I got really interested in contesting which is a competition to talk to as many people as you can in a single weekend. That progressed when I got to Michigan State into working with others in a special group of contesting called multi-multi (multiple operators with multiple transmitters) where you'd work with a group of people at one location. This produced some difficult technical challenges and helped me become a leader.

After school I became interested in the public service aspect where hams provide communications during disasters or events like marches or marathons.

I think my original interest in communication is why I purchased a modem for my first computer and became fascinated with BBS's and later the net. Really its just another form of communication.

Re: John Glenn has died

#54

Post by kumarski »

I grew up next to mission control and many of my neighbors and friends' parents were involved in Mission Control and/or Astronauts or both. Oddly, in the middle of nowhere Texas - Clear Lake. This gave me some interesting run-ins with cosmonauts, astronauts, physicists etc...

I was lucky enough to meet John Glenn on 3 separate occasions.

The first time, I discussed Plutonium 238 and my worries for satellite power given decommissioning of mission critical battery fodder for satellites on earth.

The second time, the viability of a colorblind astronaut.(I have deuteranopia and he explained to me the structure of the consoles and the switching costs of changing out colors and the follow on risk/reward of color confusion).

The third time, how we could keep more funding for NASA scale projects without having to keep offices in 50 different states for political pressure. He said he could go on for hours about this.

All 3 times, he was sharp, inspiring, and a pleasure to be around.

Today, humanity has lost the Lee Iacocca of Space.

One of my favorite quotes by him that I think is incredibly relevant right now: "The most important thing we can do is inspire young minds and to advance the kind of science, math and technology education that will help youngsters take us to the next phase of space travel."

Re: John Glenn has died

#55

Post by owenversteeg »

He was an amazing man.

Fun fact: the most popular years for babies named Glenn and John was 1962 and 1963 respectively [0,1], and you can see a little spike in births for both around the time John Glenn orbited the earth. Glenn entered the NASA test program without the required degree in a scientific field. He was the oldest man to fly in space, at age 77, and one of the last people to receive a ticker tape parade (the last one to receive multiple ticker-tape parades)

IMHO if he qualified as one of a handful of people to get a ticker-tape parade, he definitely qualifies for a black bar.

[0] https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=first+name+john

[1] https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=first+name+glenn

Re: John Glenn has died

#56

Post by SEJeff »

jjcm wrote: post #48
giodamelio wrote: post #19

I think he deserves a black bar if anyone does.

I certainly wont complain if we do put up a black bar for Glenn, but at the same time I feel like the black bar should represent a death of someone who directly contributed or was actively a part of the hacker community. While Glenn was immensely inspirational, he never really felt like a part of who we are.

I couldn't (respectfully) disagree more. He has inspired a generation of us, myself included.

My grandmother used to lead the Indianapolis Aero Club and somehow managed to get him as a speaker. My parents made the 2ish hour drive up just for me to hear one of my heros, Col John Glenn, talk for ~30 minutes (I was maybe 12-13 at the time?). While I did not ultimately achieve my dream of being an astronaut like him, I did however find my way into aerospace engineering and engineering in general as a result. He really inspired me on to greatness by being so down to earth and matter of fact.

And now I'll say something a bit controversial. The world needs more people like him, and less people like Zuckerberg. While building the next $web_thing or unicorn startup is cool, inspiring an entire generation is a whole lot cooler. Rest in peace John!

Re: John Glenn has died

#57

Post by billforsternz »

jason_slack wrote: post #7

RIP. I have to wonder, these first missions, did the astronauts have any assurance they would make it back to earth? What was it like to say goodbye to family, not knowing if you would return or not. Am I way off here? Was this mission uncertain or did NASA have reasonable assurances?

They had five nines safety. Well, in the sense that Wernher von Braun asked each of his lieutenants in turn whether they could think of any reason the rocket wouldn't work, and the reply went "nein, nein, nein, nein, nein". Wish I could remember the source of this joke.

Re: John Glenn has died

#58

Post by SEJeff »

Amorymeltzer wrote: post #15
jason_slack wrote: post #7

RIP. I have to wonder, these first missions, did the astronauts have any assurance they would make it back to earth? What was it like to say goodbye to family, not knowing if you would return or not. Am I way off here? Was this mission uncertain or did NASA have reasonable assurances?

You've got to read The Right Stuff[1], it's fantastic. Tom Wolfe paints the ethos of the era perfectly, and if you have any interest in this period, early NASA, or the guys themselves it's a must-read. I'd also recommend Chuck Yeager's autobiography[2] as another fantastic read that gives you a feel for what life was like for elite test pilots. 1: https://smile.amazon.com/Right-Stuff-Tom-Wolfe/dp/0312427565... 2: htt…

Speaking of Chuck Yeager, he's quite active on Twitter and has some really funny responses to random questions people send him.

https://twitter.com/GenChuckYeager

For those that don't know, he is a WWII P-51 Mustang fighter ace and famous test pilot. He was the first pilot to break the speed of sound. Really amazing guy.

Re: John Glenn has died

#59

Post by geoka9 »

Keyframe wrote: post #34
Amorymeltzer wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You've got to read The Right Stuff[1], it's fantastic. Tom Wolfe paints the ethos of the era perfectly, and if you have any interest in this period, early NASA, or the guys themselves it's a must-read. I'd also recommend Chuck Yeager's autobiography[2] as another fantastic read that gives you a feel for what life was like for elite test pilots. 1: https://smile.amazon.com/Right-Stuff-Tom-Wolfe/dp/0312427565... 2: htt…

While not a replacement for book, 'The Right Stuff' the movie is a great movie.

I agree, it's one of the most unusual and great movies of the eighties. The book is good, but the movie stands on its own, and while it's factually based on the book, it's quite not the same in spirit.

Re: John Glenn has died

#60

Post by ChuckMcM »

This deserves a black bar (IMO)

John Glenn was very influential on me as a student. He gave a talk at my high school about how learning as much as you could prepared you for the unexpected. He certainly put that to the test (as all of the astronauts then and now) do. The stakes are high, the resources limited, and time for a solution is finite. God speed John Glenn.

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