Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show...(the opening lines of David Copperfield as written by Charles Dickens;inspired by MTM). Or at least this ACCOUNT will, perhaps, have a reflection on whether I'm going to be the hero in my own life.
Off you go again alone and its with a very heavy heart I part from you. No more kisses and tender caresses for ever so long — I want to bury myself in you, hold you tight in my arms, make you feel the intense love of mine.
You are my very life Sweetheart, and every separation gives such endless heartache... Romantic letter from Tsarina Alexandra of Russia
Friday, 18 March, from an historical perspective, jettisoned me back my days of yore; as a yet thirteen-year-old, in 1965. In the early days of The US Manned Space Program, those were some pretty 'heady' days for me. And I'll be the first to admit, that with so much going on in the race for the Moon between the two Cold War super-powers, The USA, and the Soviet Union, it was tough to keep track of everything!! But with what facts I was able to understand and comprehend as the underpinning, I so enthusiastically looked forward to every 'next-endeavor' the US Manned Space Program would TELEGRAPH to the world. And while I noticed that many around me were still into model cars, souping-up-cars, and being immersed in the British Invasion, Piccadilly Square, British Walkers, Desert Boots, Penny Loafers, Greek High School Fraternities & Sororities, and GI Joe dolls, I was fascinated by man's effort to make real, what Jules Verne, and others, have conjectured for millennium.
Keep in mind, this is 1965. And as proclaimed by President John F. Kennedy, in a speech in 1961, we were to get a man on the Moon---by the end of the decade. The reality of this objective was that at this point in the race for the Moon, the Soviets~~~were cleaning-our-clock.
The "space race" between the Soviet Union and the United States might have been on, but our first attempts at catching up, ended in spectacular explosions. On 12 April 1961, Soviet cosmonaut, Yuri Gagarin was launched into orbit around the Earth on Vostok 1. The Soviet Union achieved yet another first when it launched not only the first woman, but also the first civilian, in space-- Valentina Tereshkova, on 16 June 1963, in Vostok 6. Launching a woman was reportedly Korolyov's idea, and it was accomplished purely for propaganda value. Admittedly, it was working!!! Those whom were paying attention, felt another arrow in their heart. Tereshkova was one of a small corps of female cosmonauts who were amateur parachutists, but Tereshkova was the only one to fly. During this time, the Americans announced their ambitious plans for the Project Gemini flight schedule. These plans included major advancements in spacecraft capabilities, including a two-person spacecraft, the ability to change orbits, the capacity to perform an extravehicular activity (EVA), and the goal of docking with another spacecraft. And this TELEGRAPHING of our ambitions was our Achilles Heel. The Soviets continued to use this to keep their propaganda machine, and associated space accomplishments, in high gear. Invariably, the 'firsts' continue to stack against us. On 12 October 1964, the Chief Designer delivered another Soviet space-first when Voskhod 1 launched the first multi-person spacecraft, with three cosmonauts in a modified Vostok spacecraft. With all of the aforementioned, the USA had as yet to launch their first two-manned Gemini Capsule. While it will launch on the top of the USAF Titan-II rocket, this Gemini 3, will launch on March 23, 1965,and do a typically American method-of-operation, a modest---3-orbit space flight
Pivotal to all of space-exploration is that, at some point, the astronaut/cosmonaut is going to have to venture out of his spacecraft. As we boldly proclaimed our objectives of the Gemini Program, the one objective that was much ANTICIPATED, as if to say; "Go Where No Man Has Gone Before", was our intent to have an astronaut "walk-in-space". Specifically, while being tethered to an umbilical-cord, Astronaut Ed White on June 3, 1965, would float out of the hatch of his Gemini 4 capsule, into the void of space.
This was to be THE FIRST-EVER "SPACEWALK"---or Extravehicular Activity (EVA). This
endeavor was much anticipated because, among other things, it would put America into overdrive with efforts to get neck-and-neck with the Soviets, in the race for that orb, 286,000 miles away.
On 18 March, 1965, the Soviets---pulled off yet another FIRST. And this one DID STEAL OUR THUNDER. This did take the collective-winds right out of our sails. Everybody, from NASA, and President Johnson, to the average American felt the figurative 'blow'. The press was discussing this for weeks. With the escalation of the Viet-Nam War bringing home some real-life reality-checks, this 'race', in particular, was getting called into question.
On this day, Alexei Leonov, born Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov on May 30, 1934; one of the first group of Soviet cosmonauts, became the first human to conduct a SPACEWALK(EVA). This historic spacewalk took place during the Voskhod 2 mission. He was outside the spacecraft for a little more than 12 minutes.
At the end of the spacewalk, his spacesuit had inflated in the vacuum of space and he could not re-enter the airlock. He was able to open a valve and bleed off some pressure. Eventually, he was able to force his way back into the space capsule.
Ultimately, even with the very modest start-up, The Gemini/Titan Program would be the unheralded stepping-stone. By-and-large history's forgotten legacy, this two-year segment of our space-exploration actually had us breaking away from the Soviets by leaps-and-bounds, yielding to the Apollo/Saturn Program, and a now unobstructed path to the moon.
--{-=@
Hickok
Taylor Park
The Promise
NB: The 9.0 earthquake that hit Japan, on 11 March was powerful enough to shift
the earth on its axis and make it spin a little faster, shortening the day by 1.8 millionths of a second. And, it shoved the island nation one parking-space to the east.
...work in progress(trying to get a photo attached; technical-savvy not yet available)
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