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Space

The View from Space: Glenn's ageless appeal

By John Holliman

May 27, 1998
Web posted at:

In this column:

(CNN) -- I got to spend a couple of hours with NASA's oldest and newest astronaut this week. Sen. John Glenn cut the ribbon to open Space Day 1998 on the National Mall in Washington. He told the hundreds of children gathered around a mockup of the space shuttle that they are the future of the space program in the United States.

He also told the group that the future of the U.S. space program is not just in the United States; it's global. The senator says he'll celebrate his 77th birthday on July 18 and will be in final preparations for his shuttle flight during that week.

Glenn joined me in the Space Day cyberspace chat, which I hope you got to watch here. It was great fun to hear this American hero talk about what he wants to do when he gets into orbit on the shuttle in October. First he wants to see what it's like to move around in a spaceship. That's something he couldn't do in his tiny Mercury capsule in 1962. Then he wants to operate in space without being totally responsible for everything. He has high praise for his commander Curt Brown and his two international crewmates, who are from Spain and Japan.

The senator is training in Houston again this week to get ready for his mission. The training is tough. It starts at 8 a.m. and continues through 6 or 6:30 p.m., and it's hot in Houston right now. He's in class part of the week but will take in some spacesuit training. He'll also take classes on how to recognize an asteroid impact crater from the shuttle as it flies over the Earth.

The Columbus Dispatch had a great story this week about a 10-year-old boy who watched in amazement when Glenn flew in space the first time. Steve Williams is not 10 any more, and in fact he's the crew training coordinator for the Glenn flight. He says he's inspired by Glenn's flight and says it will be inspiring for the senior citizens of this country and for young people as well.

That's one of the interesting things about John Glenn. He seems to appeal equally to both young and old people. Whether it's 7-year-olds or 80-year-olds, Glenn seems to have the ability to get through to people. I watched him with a huge group of Girl Scouts. He told them he'd never been with such a large group of Girl Scouts and not bought cookies. They laughed and tried to sell him some.

With older Americans, he talks about medical problems of the elderly that could eventually be solved by research on his body as he flies on the shuttle. The senator knows that he's an unusual 70-something because he's in such good physical shape, but he believes strongly that his flight could open the door to further study of the aging process that will benefit the nation's growing elderly population.

Last ferry to Mir on the pad

The shuttle that's taking off for Mir is on the launch pad and will be leaving the Earth on June 2. Discovery is going to pick up Andy Thomas, as you know, and it will be the last shuttle trip for a while. Launch time is about 6:10 p.m. and John Zarrella and I will be at the launch pad to bring it to you live. In case you can't get to a television, you can watch our launch coverage right here.

Glenn wearing the suit he will use on his mission aboard Discovery   

NASA's careful schedule of shuttle flights, prepared years in advance, is totally out of whack right now. The Russian delays with the International Space Station are at the heart of the delay. As we discussed a few weeks ago, the first launch of a piece of the station, originally scheduled for June, won't happen until November at the earliest. NASA will announce this decision by the space station's international management team at the end of this month at the Kennedy Space Center.

The first crew of space station astronauts and cosmonauts took a close look at the first piece of station hardware at Baikonur, Khazakstan, this week.

Commander Bill Shepherd along with cosmonauts Sergei Krikalev and Yuri Gidzenko are alternating their time between the cosmonaut training center in Star City, Russia, and NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. This week they're in Moscow spending time in the simulator for the Soyuz launch vehicle which will take them to the station sometime next year. Shepherd is anxious to get the station built so he and his crew can float aboard. He told me he'd hoped to be on board shortly after New Year's Day, but now his mission will be delayed, probably until summer.

In the company of space travelers

I had a delightful experience on Space Day. Astronaut Mae Jemmison, the first woman of color to fly in space, was host of the day long activities. She's remarkably smart and willing to involve young people in space exploration. She's started a program to give a helping hand to teen-agers who want to pursue careers in space exploration. In addition, she's working on engineering projects which will make life easier for people in Africa. She's committed to giving something back to the world after her record breaking trip on the shuttle.

Quite an American!

I also got to spend an hour with Buzz Aldrin and Wally Schirra, two of the most famous astronauts. Buzz told me he became interested in math and science when he was in the eighth grade in New Jersey. He saw that World War II was coming and he decided he wanted to be a fighter pilot, which he couldn't do without math and science training. Wally told a story about bringing his second grade teacher with him to an honors ceremony recently. He said this teacher convinced him that math and science training would help him later in life. It got him on a Mercury, a Gemini and an Apollo flight. Not bad!

Next week, we'll talk from launch complex 39 at the Kennedy Space Center.

John Holliman's column appears on Wednesdays.

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