Three veteran space program communicators recently were honored at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for their contributions delivering U.S. space exploration news and information to the American people and the world. During the May 1, 2023 ceremony at the Florida Spaceport’s News Center, the names of Bob Granath, Red Huber and Mark Kramer were added to the facility’s “Chroniclers wall” — a communicators’ “hall of fame.”
“Liftoff, the clock is operating. We’re underway,” NASA astronaut John Glenn announced as he launched to as the first American to orbit the Earth. His spacecraft’s onboard mission elapsed time clock began counting his minutes in flight as he was boosted from Florida’s East Coast on Feb. 20, 1962 – 60 years ago. After his three-orbit mission, the U.S. Marine Corps colonel returned to Earth as the quintessential American hero.
A year ago on Oct. 9, 2020, Disney+ launched a TV series re-boot of the motion picture The Right Stuff. In the revised version, the historic facts were, by in large, presented accurately. However, the personal lives of the Original 7 Mercury astronauts were depicted like the fictitious characters of a soap opera. After eight episodes, the streaming network mercifully pushed the “abort button” and cancelled the series.