Posted on 04/12/2009 11:23:45 AM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Famed Mercury astronaut John Glenn has an open seat at his lunch table, provided you're willing to foot the bill.
Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, is offering an afternoon lunch as part of a charity auction for the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, which is raising college scholarship funds for aspiring engineers and scientists.
It was 50 years ago today that NASA unveiled Glenn and the six other Mercury astronauts - the country's first spaceflyers - to the world in a frenzied press conference that made the seven men instant national heroes. On that April 9 in 1959, Glenn compared his feelings for spaceflight to those of the Wright Brothers as they prepared for their history-making air flights.
"I think we stand on the verge of something as big and as expansive as that was fifty years ago," Glenn, now 87, said in that briefing according to NASA's transcript, adding that he and the other Mercury astronauts felt lucky and blessed to be part of it. "This can mean an awful lot to this country, of course."
At the time, the United States was embroiled in a Space Race with the former Soviet Union, one that culminated in the Apollo missions that landed Americans on the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s.Since then, more than 300 NASA astronauts have followed, with another 10 or 12 expected to join the agency's spaceflying corps in a few weeks' time.
But Glenn and his fellow Mercury astronauts - Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Scott Carpenter, Donald "Deke" Slayton, Walter Schirra and Gordon Cooper - have been the popular image for America's past and present astronaut corps. Five of the seven have passed away in the last five decades, with Glenn and Carpenter all that remain.
Glenn first launched into space in 1962 aboard his Mercury capsule Friendship 7. It was America's third manned spaceflight after the suborbital trips of Shepard and Grissom, but the first to reach orbit and he circled the Earth three times before landing.
In 1998, Glenn launched into space again at age 77 aboard NASA's shuttle Discovery, setting a world record for the oldest human to fly in space. Unlike his first flight, Glenn spent nine full days in space performing experiments to investigate spaceflight and the aging process. He also served as a senator for his home state of Ohio for 24 years before retiring in 1999.
The Astronaut Scholarship Foundation's last lunch date with Glenn fetched a cool $6,050 during a 2008 auction. But the experience is not the only one up for sale. Seven other astronaut experiences are for sale - including a meal with Carpenter - and other astronaut memorabilia are also up for grabs to benefit the foundation's scholarships.
While the online bidding for the foundation's auction opened Thursday, it runs through April 18. Click here for more information via the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation.
Dang. I thought he died.
That and 25 cents will get you a cup of coffee...
Both he and the Clinton’s raffling off face time with them? At least this one is for a charity as opposed to paying the already rich Clinton’s debts.
Personally, I would probably pay to be excused from having to meet either of them.
“I’d rather buy lunch for a random stranger on the street.”
Me too, at least that stranger most likely didn’t sell out our national security (to China) for a ride on the Shuttle.
We still pay the price for his action.
spam in a can
went from USMC pilot to astronaut to douche bag.. all in one lifetime.
Go back to Ohio Glenn.... nothing like a has been with a full ride from the taxpayers trying to scrape by on a couple of hundred thousand per year.
F'ing democrat. I'd rather burn my money than give it to him and the most of the asshats in DC.
Used to respect Glenn until he sold out to the dim-bulb crats and purchased a ride on the shuttle in payment for his vote. Sorry, Glenn, but in my mind, you’ve got as much morality as Obama - which means you’ve got none whatsoever. Go away.
Yep. What came to my mind when I saw this was Krinton selling tickets for overnight stays in the Lincoln Bedroom and pocketing the money. Both of these guys are the same brand of sleaze. Hang out with these guys? I’d rather stay home and rearrange my sock drawer.
John Glenn is a good soldier, and that explains much about how liberals got to him and made him one of their crew. If he could be convinced that the liberal-democrat world view is good, noble, and patriotic, he is the type that would go for it and not give it much thought.
The trick is in recruiting and convincing him. If the GOP got to him and did this, he would have been a GOPer.
The types of qualities that make Glen who he is also made him susceptible to the liberal world view, once they got to him. They used his strength against him, making it a weakness.
I don’t agree with the politics he advocates but I cut him quite a bit of slack.
I fixed your post. It appears you went soft in the middle. :-)
Seriously, I liked what a caller to Rush Limbaugh said a few years ago while John Glenn was still in office. "Was a hero; now a zero". Pretty well sums it up for me.
Who is he?
That would make sense. He’s a good soldier - if you convince him that you are good soldiers, too, he would be on board.
John Glen — another Democrat to have traveled from hero to traitor in a single lifetime...
I cannot imagine having to be forced to endure any of the three and, if forced, would actually pay money to get out of it.
In my previous career, I worked with a lot of ex-Navy officers. I could easily divide them into two categories: Honorable and Politician.
The honorable ones were some of the most intelligent and principled people it has ever been my pleasure to have known.
The politicians were the sleaziest, slimeball game-players to have ever crossed my path.
The shame of it is that higher-ups couldn’t tell the difference.
Glenn must have been a politician when he was a Marine, because he certainly was one when he was a Senator.
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