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Forty years ago the U.S. put a man (well, two actually) on the moon. The landing capped a decade of NASA trial-and-error, Cold War jockeying with the Soviets and negotiating an uneasy relationship with the press. Harlen Makemson, author of "Media, NASA and America’s Quest for the Moon" charts the ongoing coverage of the space program.
John Glenn first to orbit the earth - not.
Maybe the first American, but in a seeming bid to be over-dramatic, Bob Garfield said he was the "first human being" to do it. A simple Google search will tell you that this honor goes to Yuri Gagarin.
Mr. Levine beat me to that one, but I'll add another correction -- Mr. Makemson said that the first space walk was by Ed White, but Alexei Leonov had the first extravehicular activity 2.5 months earlier on 18 March 1965. If I recall correctly, NASA quickly rushed the handheld jet unit for White's walk to production after the Soviet EVA so that White could be the first maneuvering human in space.
Roger, you're right, I should have made clear (as my book does) that White's mission was the first American (or NASA) spacewalk, not the first overall. Hope you enjoyed the segment.
Harlen Makemson mentioned a discussion between Kurt Vonnegut and Arthur Clarke on space exploration. I'd love to read this. Where might I find it?
I was going to ask the same question as Matt. I'd love to see or read that.
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