‘Punkin Suit’ Pride (We’ve never had a disaster on re-entry before) John Glenn

msnbc ^ | 2/2/2003 | John Glenn

[TLBSHOW]

‘Punkin Suit’ Pride

Feb. 10 issue — We’ve got a NASA channel on our cable TV here at home, and we were going to watch the landing. Suddenly, everything went off the air and they said they had lost all signal. I knew we had deep problems.

BACK IN THE old days, it was normal to lose contact for about four minutes during the highest heat of re-entry, but the blackout period now is less. I turned to my wife, Annie, and said, “This is big-time trouble.”

We’ve never had a disaster on re-entry before. The launch has always been more worrisome because you’ve got thousands of tons of fuel ready to blow up if something goes wrong, so that’s always looked at as a time of more hazard than any other. But re-entry is a big transition from all that speed back down to the ground. You put your pressure suit on and you have your visors closed so if there’s any loss of pressure, you will be protected within your suit. Everybody calls it the pumpkin suit because of its orange color. I give it the Ohio pronunciation—the “punkin” suit.

Full Story see source

[TLBSHOW]

ping

[DoughtyOne]

I appreciate the post, but I can't stomach to even look at Glenn, much less read what he thinks. After watching his performance during hearings, I have lost all respect for him. That's putting it mildly.

[68skylark]

I can't stomach to even look at Glenn, much less read what he thinks.

Yeah, me too. He did some daring and herioc things as a pilot and early astronaut. But his dismal support for Clinton has overshadowed those accomplishments.

[al baby]

Maybe space flight is not good on the brain

[Jeff Chandler]

Being a Democrat is not good on the brain.

[niteowl77]

People sell their souls to the party that doesn't value souls, and they end life with little of value. Glenn became a much smaller man through his politics, and he cheapened his genuine contributions via a theatrical fourth quarter quid pro quo. He's not an ignorant man, and he's not a coward (and this was not a bad article); he allowed himself to be, however, a pawn for the political cancer that is today's Democratic party. What a crappy epitaph to a career.

[joesnuffy]

Anti gun
Pro Abortion
Basically Anti-American Pro New World Order
It aint all what you've done but how you finish
Glenn is a loser imo and should be a senator for France or Iraq

[zebra 2]

Don't forget that he was up to his neck in the Keating scandal.

[DoughtyOne]

I agree. And for me it went beyond support for the Clintons. He was willing to pass of sabotage and possible treason as if it was a choice between Charmin and the generic brand. I'll never forget his submarining of those hearings.

[DoughtyOne]

You guys are right as far as I am concerned. He did tarnish his career. Thanks.

[Willie Green]

After watching his performance during hearings, I have lost all respect for him. That's putting it mildly.

On this issue, he is still very much the voice of experience, a pioneer who can rightfully claim to have "been there, done that" at a time when our expertise was much less and the risks were much greater. I may not agree with his politics, but Senator Glenn set those opinions aside to provide us with his thoughtful and unique insights on this tragedy. IMHO, we should extend him the similar courtesy of setting aside our differences in appreciation of what he has to say.

[RightWhale]

We’ve never had a disaster on re-entry before.

Remember when John Glenn's Mercury flight was a little uncertain at re-entry. Seems the heat shield got a "deployed" signal and the pilot was able to keep the heat shield in place by puckering his grommet.

[boris]

I didn't mind them launching Glenn into space....
...but did they have to bring him back?

And it's still LeRC to me.

--Boris

[DoughtyOne]

I'm willing to overlook quite a bit, but when Senator Thompson ran the hearings on Chinese funds, espionage and possible Clinton complicity, John Glenn interrupte, brow beat and berated anyone who made half an effort to get to the bottom of it.

My options are now, think of Glenn as a man who showed courage in space or a man who in effect covered for possible treasonous acts in conjunction with selling or even giving state secrets to a foreign nation.

While I appreciate Glenn's activities in space, and have since the day he performed them, I simply cannot overlook his acts since then.

I don't trust Glenn. I don't respect Glenn. I don't want him placed on public display in positions of respect. There are plenty of others with admirable character who can fill the bill quite nicely.

[Carolinamom]

RE: #3.....Dittos

[Bob]

Remember when John Glenn's Mercury flight was a little uncertain at re-entry. Seems the heat shield got a "deployed" signal and the pilot was able to keep the heat shield in place by puckering his grommet.

And here I always thought they kept the shield on with the retro pack. I guess that had to have been a he!! of a pucker-factor inducing experience.

[Godebert]

"IMHO, we should extend him the similar courtesy of setting aside our differences in appreciation of what he has to say."

I wouln't extend the courtesy of pissing on the traitor if he was on fire. May he rot in hell.

[Willie Green]

Well, whatever...
I guess I just don't have much stomach for all the second-guessing, speculation and petty partisan bickering and finger-pointing that's occurring in the wake of this tragedy.

[RightWhale]

the second-guessing, speculation and petty partisan bickering and finger-pointing

That is the practice of low-level underlings. Program managers have to think at a higher level, make decisions that might change the entire direction and goal of the activity, write it off and move on.

Who knows which Congresscritters will try to demagog the issue for political gain, but most realize that NASA is Congress's responsibility; Congress sets NASA's goals and funding level. We'll keep a list of which Congresscritters play politics and which have a vision of America's continued technological pre-eminence in space so that we know which need our encouragement and which are worth listening to.