I'll have to get mine on ebay. :D $8.00 a year subscription back then! What a bargain.

http://i.ebayimg.com/t/POPE-URBAN-II...w%7E%7E0_3.JPG

Well thats $60.04 in 2012 dollars. Not sure about bargain. :hmmm:

First orbit of anyone. Yuri's Vostok 1 flight deorbited short of one full orbit. :03:

Back when Steve was young the only Astronauts were the Alien Astronauts... :O:

I heard on the radio a few nights back that when they brought in Glenn to show him a test launch of the type of rocket he'd be going up on, the rocket exploded mid-launch.

Confidence inspiring. :doh:

I too often wonder about Vostok 1 and a "Complete" orbit as he only did 340 degrees but that is not taking in to account the earth rotation. When I ask the rocket scientists at work, they start talking in tongues about inertial space and that's usually when I feign death to get them to stop. :D

But in any case Titov's Vostok 2 went 17 orbits and did it before Glenn

Vostok 2 6-7 Aug 61

Friendship 7 20 Feb 62

However no Vostok spacecraft landed with its crews. They all bailed out and parachuted to the ground. Glenn was the 1st to orbit and return with his spacecraft. :03:

Gagarin was "in orbit", so if he hadn't been deorbited, he would have continued in an orbital trajectory for a while.

Glenn was the first person to orbit in a spacecraft under his control, instead of a ground-controlled/pre-programed flight.

When I ask the rocket scientists at work, they usually just look at me for a moment, and then ask "Who are you? What are you doing in here? How'd you get into a secure area?"

Then you tell them how you got in: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRHqtbt3ORc

I will give you that. :up:

the Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) looked closely at the Vostok missions because of the ejection, but decided that since it was designed that way, it counted.

Titov in Vostok 2 manually controlled his craft during some of his mission.

Glenn only took manual control during specific tests periods.

(man I love space trivia!)

You are correct. I looked it up earlier today. I was mistaken, it was Gagarin that had the unlock codes in an envelope.

Growing up with two parents at NASA, I picked up a lot of it. A lot of interesting stuff to learn.

It surprises me that more people there seem to have no idea of (and no interest in) the sorts of things that have happened right there where they work.

Not everyone is a history nut like we are. I am pretty ignorant on most things concerning sports and music. :D

I really envy you "old" folks :O: You can (depending on your age, of course) tell your kids and grandchildren that you saw the moon-landing live, for instance, and I wish more than anything that I could've been around to experience that!

Treasure your memories friendo! :salute:

Oh, I do. I do. On the other hand you're going to see things I can only dream about. Technology keeps advancing faster and faster. When I was a kid we didn't have computers or cell phones. When you're my age who knows what you'll have to play with? :sunny:

http://img822.imageshack.us/img822/9864/snoopyp.gif


Its unfortunate that space launches have been at their lowest point since the first few years of the 1960s... :damn:

Funny story about old folks.

I remember watching the Apollo 12 moon landing with my mother. I was 19, she was 59. My Mom, God bless her, was poorly educated and I also attribute my natural scepticism to her. I pointed to the moon outside, which was quite visible and the live broadcast of these guys on TV and said those men are up there. She just laughed and said "no it's just a TV show". No amount of explaining would convince her. Later she came around but I'll always remember how funny it was trying to explain it to her.

But I can say Biggles that it was something indeed to look at the moon when you knew there were humans up there. It was 'almost unbelievable' and a great moment.