And here he is a few minutes after returning to earth. There are levels of coolness. This is the coolest of the cool. The Chucks are my favorite part.
R.I.P. pioneer and American hero.
I’ve always been very touched, too, by his devotion to his wife – now widow – Annie. Here’s an article about her journey. What Glenn said on the phone to his wife – a moment shown so memorably in The Right Stuff – was taken word for word from his memoir
This is who he was.
“Who are you going to get?”
One of the best lines in a movie, ever.
Loyalty and Honor.
We put are flying our flag today-in memory of John Glenn. An upright, forthright man-so much to admire about him. A 72 year marriage to his wife Annie-that is amazing to think about. My sister worked on John Glenn’s presidential campaign, and she had nothing but good things to say about this wonderful couple.
The Right Stuff might be my favorite “feel good” movie ever, I mentioned it in that recent post. I love that scene you posted. They don’t make ’em like John Glenn anymore (or Chuck Yeager or Gordo Cooper etc. for that matter). The 2nd to last shot of the film, of a smiling Gordo (played by Dennis Quaid) saying “Lord what a heavenly light” as the sunlight enters his capsule, is one of my all-time favorites. I get chills just thinking about it!
RIP to a true American Hero.
[first lines]
Narrator: “There was a demon that lived in the air. They said whoever challenged him would die. Their controls would freeze up, their planes would buffet wildly, and they would disintegrate. The demon lived at Mach 1 on the meter, seven hundred and fifty miles an hour, where the air could no longer move out of the way. He lived behind a barrier through which they said no man could ever pass. They called it the sound barrier. ”
[last lines]
Narrator: “The Mercury program was over. Four years later, astronaut Gus Grissom was killed, along with astronauts White and Chaffee, when fire swept through their Apollo capsule. But on that glorious day in May 1963, Gordo Cooper went higher, farther, and faster than any other American – 22 complete orbits around the world; he was the last American ever to go into space alone. And for a brief moment, Gordo Cooper became the greatest pilot anyone had ever seen. “