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.
A note about the video documentary ...
Two Cape buildings were running the mission. The blockhouse at the pad, "Launch Control," was responsible for launching the rocket.
"Mission Control" was elsewhere on the Cape. They ran the mission.
That continues to this day. NASA has a Mission Control in Houston for the #ISS, but a separate one for #Artemis.
#SpaceX has two launch controls -- one for Pad 40, one for Pad 39A -- but their mission control is in Hawthorne CA.
Here's the complete 1961 NASA Freedom 7 documentary, restored by Retro Space HD. It runs 28 minutes.
Here's an excellent video compilation by lunarmodule5 on YouTube with audio and film clips of the complete Freedom 7 mission 62 years ago today, the first American human spaceflight mission.
62 years ago today, Walter Cronkite and #CBSNews cover Freedom 7, the first American human spaceflight mission.
I dare you to listen to this and hear Walter's voice without a chill up your spine!
@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.
#NASA #Space #SpaceCoast
Here's a clip from a 1961 NASA documentary about the Freedom 7 launch 62 years ago today, the start of America's human spaceflight program.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PS9UCJKb04M