http://earthsky.org/space/this-date-in- ... rbit-earthTHIS DATE IN SCIENCE
February 20, 1962. John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth on this date. He made three turns around the planet before returning safely in his space capsule, which was called Friendship 7.
... Glenn returned to space at age 77 aboard the space shuttle Discovery in 1995, making him the oldest person to fly in space.
Why is there just one important date? Seems to me there are plenty, and the anniversary of Glenn's flight is a very important one for the American space program. If you were going to limit it to a single date, it would be before April 12, 1961, because putting a man into space was a small accomplishment compared with putting a satellite into orbit.rstevenson wrote:Talking about which American or Russian did what when is surely of interest only to historians or nationalists. The important date is April 12, 1961, when the first human being went into space. All the rest was (and continues to be) development effort to figure out how to get more of us up there safely, and to keep us there doing useful things for longer periods.
All astro/cosmonauts are to be commended for their bravery and hard work and sometimes sacrifice, of course.
My complaint was simply that the topic title is wrong. It isn't the anniversary of the first American in space.rstevenson wrote:Sure, there's a long list of accomplishments of various kinds that can be commemorated, including that one, and the first modern rocket, and gunpowder, and so on. And it could be argued the other way, that those first people in space were just "Spam in a can", and we should instead hype the first EVA, or the first science experiment, or the first robotic probe -- and we do remember all those things. But since the thread is about human presence in space, I say start with the first, while giving Glenn his due, of course.
