SpaceX CRS-6 First Stage lands on ASDS Barge and then falls overboard

[freshwest]

15. Remember some of those from elementary school. It was dreary. First one we cheered was Shepard.

On May 5, 1961, Shepard piloted the Freedom 7 mission and became the second person, and the first American, to travel into space.[8]"

He was launched by a Redstone rocket, and unlike Gagarin's 108-minute orbital flight, Shepard stayed on a ballistic trajectory—a 15-minute sub-orbital flight which carried him to an altitude of 116 statute miles (187 km) and to a splashdown point 302 statute miles (486 km) down the Atlantic Missile Range...

The launch was seen live on television by millions... Shortly before the launch, Shepard said to himself: "Don't fuck up, Shepard..."[9]

According to Gene Kranz in his book, Failure Is Not an Option, "When reporters asked Shepard what he thought about as he sat atop the Redstone rocket, waiting for liftoff, he had replied, 'The fact that every part of this ship was built by the lowest bidder...'"[10]

It was nice to see the splashdown:



The most memorable one of so many others. My cousin worked IT at NASA during the Moon landing.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_Shepard#Mercury_Seven

All the girls in our class went to see it live on the school's audio video equipment in B&W. It was just before summer vacation. We all had high hopes, and didn't feel it was beyond our grasp to be in the program. It was likely seen by HRC:



http://www.democraticunderground.com/1251275799

I was told I couldn't do a lot of things for that same reason. It got old with us real quick. And we have never forgotten it.