The original seven...
NASA introduced America's first team of astronauts to the press on April 9, 1959. They were selected to be part of Project Mercury, our first manned space program and they would all distinguish themselves in that role...
The original seven were: Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Walter Schirra Jr., Alan Shepard Jr. and Donald Slayton. While they would all fly in various space projects, we mostly remember Shepard for making the first manned flight, a sub-orbital flight lasting all of 15 minutes or so in 1961. One year later John Glenn would become the first American to orbit the Earth. Gordon Cooper would make the last Mercury flight, Wally Schirra would fly in all 3 space (Mercury, Gemini and Apollo) programs. We would lose Gus Grissom in the Apollo 1 fire at Cape Kennedy after he had gone into space twice, and both Carpenter and Slayton flew on Mercury...
Of the seven original astronauts, only 3 (Carpenter, Schirra and Glenn) are alive today. The latter going back up in 1998 at the age of 77 as part of the Space Shuttle Discovery crew that was a data gathering mission on the effects of space flight and the aging process although we seem to know the answer on the effects of aging on Senator Glenn...
Read about your humble blogger reporting on the first space flight in my commentary...
April 7 Memories...
1902] The Texas Oil Company (Texaco) is formed...
1927] The 1st long-distance TV transmission is sent from Washington, D.C. to New York City as the audience sees an image of Commerce Secretary Herbert Hoover (raise of hands for those of you who knew Hoover was once our Commerce Secretary...I didn't think so)...
1930] The 1st steel columns are set for the Empire State Building...
1948] Rogers and Hammerstein's "South Pacific" opens on Broadway...
1957] The last of New York City's electric trolleys completes its final run from Queens to Manhattan...
1963] At the age of 23, Jack Nicklaus becomes the youngest golfer to win the green jacket at the Masters Tournament...
1958] The L.A. Dodgers erect a 42-foot screen in left field at the LA Coliseum to cut down on home runs, only 250 feet down the line (Frank Howard takes one look at the screen and laughs hysterically)...
1962] The Rolling Stones are formed when Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Brian Jones meet at the Ealing Blues Club in England...
1967] Tom Donahue begins the Progressive (which will later be known as AOR for Album Oriented Rock) FM format at KMPX in San Francisco (Donahue will become known as the "Father of FM Radio")...
1968] Not played on KMPX but #1 anyway is "Honey" by Bobby Goldboro...
1969] The Dodgers' Bill Singer is credited with the 1st official "save" against the Reds...
1970] The Beatles are #1 with "Let it Be"...
1970] John Wayne wins his 1st and only Oscar for his role in "True Grit" (this after appearing in over 200 films)...
1974] Buh-buh-buh-buh-buh-buh "Bennie and the Jets" is #1 for Elton John...
1985] Elton performs "Candle in the Wind" at Farm Aid IV in tribute to Ryan White, a young AIDS patient who dies later that day...
1998] Mary Bono, Sonny's widow, wins a special election to serve out the remainder of her husband's congressional term...
2000] President Bill Clinton signs the Senior Citizens Freedom to Work Act of 2000 which allows senior citizens to earn money without losing Social Security benefits...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]
Happy Birthday To...
1920] Ravi Shankar...
1928] James Garner...
1933] Wayne ("Trapper John" on "M*A*S*H") Rogers...
1937] Charlie Thomas of The Drifters...
1939] David Frost...
1949] John Oates...
1950] Janis Ian...
1954] Jackie Chan...
1964] Russell Crowe...
Commentary...
The Russians put the 1st man in space, Yuri Gagarin, on April 12, 1961. Less than one month later the U.S. answered by putting our 1st man up there, Alan Shepard. Gagarin actually orbitted the Earth but we didn't have that capability yet...
About a week before the scheduled May 5th launch I got a call from a news service in Washington, D.C. I was doing afternoon drive at WKKO Cocoa-Brevard County, just down the road from the Cape (I'm guessing 5 miles) and I told them, "sure I'll do the report". They thought I would be at the launch, I knew I'd be looking out the back window of the station. The report was purely theatrical, something like, "I can see the flames shooting out of the back of the space craft from the thrust of those powerful engines as it slowly lifts off the pad, etc. etc." In truth I could see just enough to enhance my "fudging" of this historic launch. I have no idea how many stations got this audio feed but I was able to include, "reported on the first space launch in history" on my resume...
[Today is the 97th day of 2006 with 268 days remaining in the year and we're 52 days away from Memorial Day]
Saturday, April 8, 2006...
April 8 Memories...
1834] In New York City, Cornelius Lawrence becomes the 1st mayor to be elected by popular vote in a city election...
1873] Alfred Paraf patents the 1st successful oleomargarine ("butter, margarine, butter, margarine, butter...margarine")
1952] President Harry S. Truman seizes the steel mills in order to prevent a nationwide strike...
1953] (Memo: Michael Jackson) The bones of Sitting Bull are moved from North to South Dakota...
1972] The Chi-Lites chart with "Oh Girl" which will become their only #1 hit...
1974] Hank Aaron passes Babe Ruth, becoming Baseball's new Home Run King with his 715th HR off of Dodger pitcher Al Downing (Barry Bonds is just 7 home runs away from passing Aaron, 48 away from passing Hank Aaron. The controversial Bonds is sitting on 708 home runs)...
1975] Frank Robinson of the Cleveland Indians becomes the Major League's 1st black manager...
1981] Omar N. Bradley, a WWII general and the 1st chairman of the Joints Chief of Staff, dies at 88...
1983] Danny & the Juniors lead singer, Danny Rapp is a victim of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot to the head at 41...
1986] Clint Eastwood is elected mayor of Carmel, California (he will serve until 1988)...
1987] Dodger executive Al Campanis (yes that Al Campanis who told Ted Koppel that blacks may lack some of the "necessities" for becoming baseball managers) "resigns"...
1990] "Twin Peaks" debuts on ABC-TV (for a series that got so much press it's interesting to note that it only lasted one season)...
1992] Tennis player Arthur Ashe announces at a news conference that he has AIDS...
1994] The body of Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain is found in Seattle, the victim of apparently a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Cobain was 27...
1998] George Michael is released on bail after his arrest for engaging in lewd conduct in a park restroom (Oops !)...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]
Happy Birthday To...
1918] Former first lady Betty Ford...
1926] Comedian Shecky Greene...
1940] Celtic great and Basketball Hall of Famer John Havlicek...
1947] Steve Howe of Yes...
1951] Mel Schacher (Grand Funk Railroad)...
1954] Met great and Baseball Hall of Famer Gary Carter...
1963] Julian Lennon...
[Today is the 98th day of 2006 with 267 days remaining in the year and 51 days until Memorial Day]
Sunday, April 9, 2006...
April 9 Memories...
1865] At Appomattox Court House in Virginia, General Robert E. Lee surrenders his Confederate Army to Union General Ulysses S. Grant (although the war was over, there were still Confederate armies in the field. The 4 years of fighting took 360,000 Union troops and 260,000 Confederate troops)...
1912] The 1st exhibition game is played at Fenway Park between the Red Sox and Harvard...
1913] The Dodgers play their 1st regular season game at Ebbets Field as nearly 12,000 fans watch the Bums lose a 1-0 game to the Phillies (this was a rough year for the hometeam, the Dodgers finish 34 1/2 games out of 1st place)...
1928] Mae West makes her Broadway debut in the production of "Diamond Lil"...
1950] Bob Hope makes his 1st TV appearance on "Star-Spangled Review" on NBC-TV...
1953] TV Guide is published for the 1st time...
1959] NASA announces the selection of America's 1st seven astronauts (see feature story)...
1962] "West Side Story" wins 10 Academy Awards...
1965] Bruce Johnston officially joins the Beach Boys...
1965] TIME magazine runs the entire "Peanuts" gang on the cover...
1965] The 1st indoor baseball game is played in the Astrodome (Mickey Mantle hits the 1st home run there in an exhibition game between the Astros and Yankees)...
1966] Percy Sledge's "When A Man Loves A Woman" is released...
1970] Paul McCartney quits the Beatles...
1972] Jane Fonda wins an Oscar for "Klute"...
1973] Paul McCartney releases "My Love"...
1974] College student Ted Giannoulas answers a radio station ad for a mascot in San Diego and becomes the "San Diego Chicken" (the age of major league mascots dawns)...
1976] Songwriter Phil Ochs who suffers from manic-depression, apparently takes his own life at 35...
1988] Dave Prater of Sam & Dave dies in a car accident...
1992] Former Panamanian ruler Manuel Noriega is convicted in Miami of 8 drug and racketeering charges...
1996] Former Rep. Dan Rostenkowski (D-Ill) the once powerful House Ways and Means chairman pleads quilty to 2 mail fraud charges (he will serve 15 months in prison)...
2001] American Airlines' parent company acquires TWA and becomes America's #1 carrier...
2002] Former Arthur Andersen auditor David B. Duncan pleads quilty to ordering the shredding of Enron documents and agrees to cooperate with prosecutors..
2003] Jubilant Iraqis celebrate the collapse of Saddam Hussein's regime, beheading a toppled statue of their longtime ruler in downtown Baghdad...
[To ensure accuracy of dates and content, multiple reference sources are used in the timeline]...
Happy Birthday To...
1926] Playboy publisher and founder Hugh Hefner...
1939] "The Waltons" Michael Learned...
1954] Dennis Quaid...
1966] Cynthia Nixon...
1979] "The Cosby Show"'s Keshia Knight Pulliam...
[Today is the 99th day of 2006 with 266 days remaining in the year and 50 days until Memorial Day]
