Friendship 7, Plus 60

John Glenn was one of NASA’s original group of seven astronauts in Project Mercury.  On February 20, 1962, his orbit in the Friendship 7 capsule was cut short because of concerns about the heat shield.  This is an excerpt from my book 1962: Baseball and America...

Sputnik

60 years ago today, the world marveled, reeled, and responded to Russia’s launch of Sputnik 1, the first artificial satellite. And so mankind’s journey towards manned spaceflight began.  Time described the chirping sounds coming from Sputnik as...

What If the Dodgers Had Stayed in Brooklyn?

What if the Dodgers had stayed in Brooklyn?  Further, what if migration in the modern era had never taken place, thereby forcing expansion in Kansas City, San Francisco, and other MLB cities. My paradigm assumes the following: Tampa, Toronto, Arizona, and Montreal do...

61 in ’61

In 1961, John F. Kennedy was inaugurated as the nation’s youngest elected president, The Dick Van Dyke Show débuted, and Alan Shepard became the first American astronaut in space. 1961 was also the year of Roger Maris and Mickey Mantle.  The M&M boys. As...

NASA, Space, and Popular Culture

NASA’s Golden Age of Projects Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo inspired television programmers and producers to use space as a theme in the 1960s. I Dream of Jeannie starred Larry Hagman as Tony Nelson, an astronaut living in Cocoa Beach, Florida.  Nelson lives in a...