Godspeed, John Glenn, back to stardust

I was startled awake by something before 7 AM. I didn't realize it was an earthquake. Getting the news. More death. All our cultural icons shuffling off this mortal coil in 2016. Do you think they knew something we didn't? It's a mass exodus.

Now John Glenn. Godspeed, back to stardust. Somebody said it must be the Rapture, another said, Yep, 23 more days to go. Who's next? We're no longer talking in multiples of threes here, but scores of threes.

It's been a rough harvest: David Bowie to Leonard Cohen. and now Mercury Seven's John Glenn. Glenn became the youngest and first American to orbit the Earth, aboard Friendship 7 on February 20, 1962, he was the third American in space, and the fifth human being in space.

Zero G, and I feel fine.
— Glenn's first words on becoming weightless upon reaching orbit, February 20, 1962

 I once taught an Elderhostel class at Silverpenny Farm, in Petaluma, and one of my students was a NASA engineer that put the astronauts on the moon. He brought a piece of moon-rock to class. I held a piece of the moon in my hands. Basalt! I realize astronaut William Anders took the photo Earthrise, in 1968, but when I see it, I will always think of Glenn and Man on the Moon.

Not only was Glenn the youngest American to go into orbit. He returned to space on the Space Shuttle in 1998, and, at age 77, he held the title of being the oldest person to go into space. Glenn "won his seat on the Shuttle flight by lobbying NASA for two years to fly as a human guinea pig for geriatric studies."

My friend Rebecca Morrison said: "My uncle in Colorado was John's best friend and was the best man at his wedding. My father was an astronomer so my uncle got glossy first-hand photos of the moon from John and mailed them to my father."
 
And friend Miceál Francis O'Hurley siad: "John got me transferred to the House for a stint where I worked to get Vladimir Titov on the STS-63 mission. This is the flag and crew patch they flew for me in space. Eileen Collins piloted the Shuttle Discovery on this mission. I owe much to John Glenn."
Miceál sent me this:

When I was in the Ukraine, I got to see many exhibits of USSR cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov. And there's an exhibit of some of the space capsules on the Navy aircraft carrier, the USS Hornet, docked in Alameda. There's a space museum aboard the ship with NASA Apollo artifacts. The Hornet was the recovery ship for the Apollo 11 and Apollo 12 moon missions in 1969. The Apollo command module is so tiny, it's boggling.

Time to watch The Right Stuff, Brigadier General Chuck Yeager, USAF (Ret) plays Fred, the bartender at Pancho's saloon. Scott Beach as Head German Scientist based on Wernher von Braun.
 
Scott' Beach's most famous line ever was: It's White Flower Days at Macy's! We'd all nag him to say it again in that basso profundo voice. Loved that guy. He was part of The Committee, with Mimi Fariña, they did a lot of street theater in SF/Bay Area. He was also a popular DJ.

I first met Scott, in high school, at the Renaissance Pleasure Faire in Black Point in Novato. Scott was the Lord Mayor of the Shire. George Lucas liked his voice so much he used him in THX 1138. Beach also appeared as Mr. Gordon in American Graffiti, and was an uncredited stormtrooper voice in Star Wars. 

How Jerry Brown earned the moniker Governor Moonbeam; see the 2nd segment, on CA being an independent country, with its own LANsats. Priceless.

rev.12/7/17

People we've lost in 2016 We have lost so many meaningful culture heroes. And this is a small list, it doesn't include all the poets. I've almost become numb, no longer able to respond to it all. Yet i know the river's pace will probably NOT slow but rather continue with a thousand shocks to which all mortal flesh is heir....

 Lists of deaths by year