One of my favorite Cape Canaveral photos ...

62 years ago today, the U.S. launched the first American into space, Alan Shepard.

The launch was delayed, so Wernher von Braun left the blockhouse to go for a walk.

If you visit the blockhouse today, it's a small museum. There's a big photo in the entrance of von Braun, wearing sunglasses, leaning over the launch control panels. Why is he wearing sunglasses?! This picture is the answer. He'd gone out for a stroll.

You can stand in the blockhouse doorway today and see exactly where von Braun was that morning. It's hardly changed.

As a photographer, I also admire whomever took the photo. The photographer must have noticed von Braun was missing from the blockhouse. He went looking for him and found von Braun pacing outside. He took the photo from the blockhouse door.

I stood in that doorway many times recreating that moment in my mind.

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@WordsmithFL: That is super cool, an ordinary human moment during a monumental event caught on film.

@thedisasterautist It would have been right about now, at sunrise. You can tell by his long shadow.

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