We accept the risk. We choose to go to the moon and do the other thing, not because they are easy but because they are hard. We have a good many talented scientists but we did not make a major effort in this area for many years and were now paying the price of having the soviet union exploit the propaganda advantage of sputnik. I have marvin cal. Cbs news correspondent in moscow on the phone now. Marvin, is there any doubt this happened, the russians put a man in space . Im almost certain the russians did fire a man into the outer space. Hes 27. Its a great historic scientific feat. At that time, we didnt know whether a human could survive in space and here, boom, the soviets send this guy into space and he survived. He was something that affected american progress. That we are ahead of everybody. Now it was first sputnik and now first man in space was russian and you can understand that this was really in the middle of the cold war. There was competition of the great super powers. President , could you give us your view, sir, about the soviet achievement of putting a man in orbit or what it would mean to our Space Program . Its the most impressive scientific accomplishment. I already sent congratulations to the man who was involved. The space race wasnt just about space. It was about our own sense of security. It was this new cold war Battle Ground and so it wasnt very hard to realize that if they could put a man in orbit, they could also put an atomic bomb in orbit. Suddenly the sky was menacing. It means they are getting ahead of us and we certainly need to start working hard to catch up. I think its about time america woke up and did something about it. I believe it is very impressive for propaganda purposes. But i think if we put our minds to it, this country can top that in six months. From my perspective as a kid, we were in a race against the russians and the russians were the bad guys and they were winning this race and that meant they were superior to us and yet, they were the bad guys. In 1960, we had astronauts, we hasnt had anybody in space yet, but we were knocking on the door. We wanted to catch up and be the leaders. Do we have the stuff to do it . Would you say . The United StatesSpace Program is based on the philosophy that we dont want to pull a stunt and risk a mans life. For this reason, there are certain and immediate steps planned before we put a man in orbit. If this is successful, then and only then will we orbit. The project was the first real response to the sputnik and to gary and it was a big deal for us, ill tell you because all of a sudden we had seven guys and they were Fighter Pilot types, very alpha male guys, fun to be around. It was like being with rock stars. Its a great day in houston as citizens turn out by the tens of thousands to give a texassized welcome to the u. S. Space team. They were heroes even before the public knew their names. They became warriors on behalf of the United States against our most feared enemy, the soviet union. What they were hiring these guys for was for mindset. They wanted an experienced test pilot who could observe and report during a very violent and dangerous activity. As we develop the spacecraft, almost everything we do deals with the risky side of the business. We recognize we can get killed flying spacecraft or t33 or t38s or driving my corvette. We have a job thats fascinating and its worth the risk. Al shepard was a natural leader. He got the first ride into space. The Shirley Temple program usually seen at this time will not be presented in order that we may bring you the following special broadcast. Within the next few days, the First American will be launched into space. He will not go into orbit but he will ride his spacecraft 116 miles up and will there hang weightless for about five minutes until gravity pulls him back through the atmosphere to the sea nearly 300 miles down the range. Astronaut shepard making his way to the elevator. Now astronaut shepard sends the plane in a few moments hell be placed in the capsule. Ten minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, zero, ignition. Lift off. Lift off. Lift off and the clock is started. All systems are go. Some lawmakers want to award the medal of honor to shepard, some are ready to spend more money on the space effort, all agreed russia is ahead. All this was beside the point. Mrs. Alan shepard heard the news with relief. What are your thoughts . I dont have to tell you, do i . Im so happy. It was beautiful, i thought. The flight was a ten. Al shepards flight was a one or a two, okay, in terms of the capability that it demonstrated. So russians clearly were ahead of us, so the attitude is we would like to do something really big, but small enough so we could accomplish it. I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal before this decade is out of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to the earth. No single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind or more important for the longrange exploration of space. I dont know how he decided we could do that because when we heard about it, we thought they, you know, lost their mind. Thank ythank you for defendiyour sacrifice. And thank you for your bravery. Thank you colonel. Thank you daddy. Military families are uniquely thankful for many things, the legacy of usaa Auto Insurance can be one of them. If youre a current or former military member or their family, get an Auto Insurance quote and see why 92 of our members plan to stay for life. Life with Crohns Disease ois a daily game of what ifs. What if my abdominal pain and cramps come back . What if the plane gets delayed . What if i cant hide my symptoms . What if . But what if the most important question is the one youre not asking . What if the underlying cause of your symptoms is damaging inflammation . For help getting the answers you need, talk to your doctor and visit crohnsandcolitisinfo. Com to get your complimentary q a book, with information from experts on your condition. Deterghow about. Both . N skin or tough on stains. New tide pods free and gentle free of dyes and perfumes with a deep clean. Pop in the best of both worlds. Purina dog chow light healthy is a deliciously tender and crunchy kibble blend. With 20 fewer calories than purina dog chow. Isnt it time you discovered the lighter side of dog chow. Purina dog chow light healthy. This is Walter Cronkite reporting from the capital. 131 over Wright Patterson air force base in dayton, ohio. This aircraft is executing a maneuver to make it and everyone in it temporarily weightless. This weightless condition is one of many that man must learn to tolerate or overcome to survive a first trip to the moon. Cronkite was the perfect person for space because he was a space junky. He ended up covering the early Mercury Missions and he just became encyclopedic on it. What are the hazards and what are scientists doing to ensure mans survival in outer space . That is our story. First man on the moon as a Prudential Insurance company of america presents the 20th century. This is marine lieutenant colonial john h. Glenn jr. Who will be the First American to fly in orbit around the world. Were embarking in a new field, Space Science and im happy and proud i can maybe contribute in my own way in this new field. John glenn came along next and flew the first orbital flight for an american. To us, that was a huge deal because now we had an American Hero who could at least stand up. God speed, john glenn. Three, two, one. This is mercury control. Friendship spacecraft has now committed to its third orbit. Looks good. Well see you back. All right, boy. Shortly before he is supposed to reenter the atmosphere, the word comes that there is a possibility that glenns heat shield has detached from the base of the capsule. Go ahead. We have decided to reenter with the tank on. What is the reason for this . Do you have any reason, over . The only Thing Holding the heat shield on are three straps, which are attached to the retro rockets. We feel it is far safer to reenter with the retro package on, over. Roger. Understand. So normally, the plan is you fire the retro rockets and let them go but now it becomes clear that if glenn does that, he might be burned alive. He went through this period of intense ion buildup where you lose contact with him. This is cape, do you read, over . Friendship 7, this is cape. Do you read, over . Hello, mercury recovery, this is friendship 7. Do you read me . Read you loud and clear, how are you doing . That was a real fire ball, boy. I express the great happiness and thanksgiving all of us that glenn has completed his trip. I know this was particularly felt by mrs. Glenn and his two children. Quite a day, you see four beautiful sunsets in one day but it was pretty interesting. Now we know russia need not and will not have any monopoly on manned space flight. A new spirit has arisen out of the growing pains of project mercury, a host of new projects will be born. You could have gone ahead faster if you had more money earlier, is that right . Well, this is true. Although, there are some limitations. There is an old saying, it takes nine months to have a baby. [ laughter ] rockets, too. He was perfectly placed to get us off the planet. He was a german Rocket Scientist that we were pretty lucky to get after the war. Von brown was a futurist and a visionary as much as anything else. He built the team that became americas brain trust for rocketry. I have come to texas today to salute an Outstanding Group of pioneers. Headlines may be made by others in other places. History is being made every day by the men and women of the Aerospace Medical center without whom there could be no history. When he was assassinated, that was a personal blow. It was a personal blow to us because he was the guy that got us on this track. When president johnson came in, you know, he was going to continue to implement what president kennedy had done. Those two men together led us to where we ended up at the end of the decade. Visiting Cape Canaveral are the new astronauts. The men who will join the original seven and ride the gemini and the apollo spacecraft. They are the new pioneers of space. We were very fortunate in that our country seemed to have the right person ready when the right person was needed. I give you neil armstrong. Neil armstrong was unflappable. He was a natural aviator and armstrong just seemed never to be ruffled. Neil is a cool guy, as we all know. In fact, all of the guys i was working with at the time are all exceptional pilots, so its great to be on a team like that where theyre all winners. Gemini is the space agencys bridge to the future. With it well learn mans true capabilities and drawbacks in space, and on the last five gemini flights, well practice the several different forms of rendezvous, the skill needed to supply spacecraft to change crews and the ability to operate in a medium that is fantastically rewarding and terrifyingly dangerous. Gemini is a rehearsal for apollo. The threeman spacecraft to get us to the moon. The russians surprise washington, d. C. Another first. They say he became the first man to walk around in space. When he went outside the spacecraft, they said no, he couldnt have done that but the soviets went outside and came back. It was a shocker. The soviet union pushed americans back. It was part of the game at the time. I would say for most of the 60s we had a sense of being behind. Purina dog chow light healthy is a deliciously tender and crunchy kibble blend. With 20 fewer calories than purina dog chow. Isnt it time you discovered the lighter side of dog chow. Purina dog chow light healthy. Before those little pieces would get in between my dentures and my gum and it was uncomfortable. [ male announcer ] just a few dabs is clinically proven to seal out more food particles. [ corrine ] super poligrip is part of my life now. To seal out more food particles. It can help your business save money. False. The truth is when you compare our Fastest Internet to the fastest dsl from the phone company, comcast business gives you more for your money. Why pay more for less . Call today for a low price on speeds up to 150mbps. And find out more about our twoyear price guarantee. Comcast business. Built for business. It was a perfect launch and scorpio 6 is on its way to make space history. So look. They see it sol. No, not sol, sol. It was the fabric of the country. It was finding its way into the popular culture. If you grew up in the 50s, you were watching science fiction. But if you grew up in the 60s, you were watching it actually happen. I dont want to fire the gun yet. When ed white went out on the first eva, people were holding their breath. There was a real push to get a spacewalk as soon as possible. That turned out to be gemini 4 and ed whites spacewalk was just a magnificent thing. Im rolling to the right now under my own influence. There goes a looks like a thermal brush. It is. He went out and had this little nitrogen bottle to fire this thruster that pushed this way and that way so he could rotate himself around and so on and it gave the appearance of being a piece of cake. Im turning over. You look beautiful. I feel like a million dollars. There was absolutely no sensation of falling. There was very little sensation of speed, other than the same type of sensation that we had in the capsule. I think as i stepped out, i thought it was one of the biggest things was the feeling of accomplishment of the goal of the formation. The next major breakthrough will be the bringing together of two orbiting craft. The russians have made one test on their program and presumably have learned something. We have not yet made the first test so we must be considered behind. Ignition. With lunar orbit rendezvous technique, you have to bring these two vehicles together and to get them close in such a way that it was easy to dock them took a fair bit of work. Flying nose to nose, very clearly see the rising scanners up there. Roger. That was the moment when we pulled ahead in the space race. That was something the russians hadnt even come close to doing and wouldnt accomplish for a couple more years. It was an unknown as to how we were going to do that when we first started, but we got good at it and we mastered it on Neil Armstrongs gemini 8. Houston, were keeping it at about 150 feet. Way to go, partner. Youve done it, boy. Youve done it. Good job. Thats great. Man, that is really slick. Okay, gemini 8, looking good on the ground. Go ahead and dock. They found another object in space and they docked them together to make one big spacecraft or rocket on the nose of the gemini. That was amazing. So its nighttime. Power down. Have dinner and get ready for the next day and i happened to look over at neils panel and i saw his eight ball, his attitude in a bank. I said, neil, were in a bank. Weve got Serious Problems here. They got up to one revolution a second so we decided to undock, which we suspected was the problem and then the gemini started spinning very rapidly and then we figured out, oh, its the gemini. What seems to be the problem . Its rolling and we cant turn anything off. Did he say he could not turn the agena off . He said he separated and did a roll and cant stop it. The only way to get out was for him to fire the thruster. Stop the Spinning Spacecraft before it spun so much they passed out. We got down alive and neil said, i think well both have another chance and we did. The leak in space, cbs News Coverage of gemini 9, 2 1 2 hour walk in space, reporting from the cbs news space center, Walter Cronkite. The spacewalk is over. The hatch is locked closed again, safely back in the spacecraft. A disappointing spacewalk in a true sense. The only thing we did not do well was eva, extra vehicular activity. For the last flight gemini 12 he brought in the idea of training in the water tank. I was a scuba diver from 1957 so i knew a bit about dealing with currents and moving around and spacewalking. It was very delicate moving and you balance so you dont exert yourself. So i started training underwater. Buzz put all that together and the final eva was done very much by the book. It was a big success. So i was standing up in the hatch and looking around and took a couple pictures of texas and the astrodome and i decided to just turn around and take a picture. Nothing unusual about that. But that was the first selfie in space. Gemini 12. Gemini 12. When gemini was over, the team of people, planners, astronauts, and people in the control center were completely synced and we came out with confidence in ourselves. Let us have this apollo stuff. Well take it to the moon as fast as we possibly can. A body at rest tends to stay at rest. While a body in motion tends to stay in motion. Staying active can ease arthritis symptoms. But if you have arthritis, this can be difficult. Prescription celebrex can help relieve arthritis pain, and improve daily physical function so moving is easier. Because just one 200mg celebrex a day can provide 24 hour relief for many with arthritis pain. 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