Loads of interesting NASA news and nostalgia will be hitting the Internet today… great stuff! From NASA… The Beatles were eight months away from releasing their first single, “Love Me Do,” when John Glenn rocketed into space on Feb. 20, 1962, to become the first American to orbit Earth. Glenn orbited as a pivotal time in world and American history. The year he flew, 1962, would also witness the Cuban Missile Crisis, a see-who-blinks-first standoff between American and Soviet leaders that threatened nuclear war. The American community was also substantially smaller then, with the nation’s population standing at 186 million people compared with some 300 million people today. An average family made $6,000 a year, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, a little over $4,000 per year for families living in Florida or other parts of the South. On the other hand, things didn’t cost as much as they do now. A gallon of gas ran 31 cents in 1962, and a house cost less than $19,000. The whole federal budget totaled $106 billion and the Dow Jones Industrials, the stock market, stood at just over 700 points. More interesting stats HERE
The Right Stuff – They were the original Mercury seven astronauts, all chosen from a pool of military test pilots. It was 50 years ago — on Feb., 20, 1962 — that one of them, John Glenn, became the first American to orbit the Earth. Glenn trained for three years for his four-hour, 55-minute, 23-second three-orbit flight in the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule which took flight 50 years ago today… congrats to Senator Glenn and to NASA
Image credit @realSuperInk