johnglenn

Six of the 7 Mercury astronauts arrive at Convair in San Diego in September of 1959. From left, Wally Schirra, Gus Grissom, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Alan Shepard and Gordon Cooper. On the day this picture was taken, who could have foreseen their fates? With the exception of Carpenter, all of these men flew into space at least twice. Wally Schirra was the only astronaut to fly Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. Gus Grissom flew on Mercury and Gemini, but died in the tragic Apollo 1 fire in 1967. Alan Shepard walked on the moon in 1971. John Glenn is both the first (1962) and oldest (1998) American to orbit the earth, and the only Mercury astronaut to fly on the space shuttle, get elected to Congress, and be a candidate for Vice-President (1976) and President (1984), losing the latter to Walter Mondale. (Mondale polled 49%, Glenn, 41%, so he was close. One has to wonder - if Glenn had been nominated in 1984, would he have beaten Ronald Reagan, and what effect would that have had on world history?)

Most of these men are Mercury astronauts. Not sure about the leftmost fellow, but the others are, from left, John Glenn (usually wore a bowtie), Wally Schirra (with the cigarette), Gus Grissom, Alan Shepard and Gordon Cooper.

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