Mercury-Redstone 3

Some of you may have heard that Wally Schirra died two days ago and he was the only man to fly in the first three uS space programs, Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo- indeed a man of great accomplishments. However, I wonder how many remember that forty-six years ago, today, May 5th, the first manned space flight of a uS rocket, Alan B. Shepard, Jr. occurred. This was not the first manned space flight, that honor went to Yuri Gagarin of the now defunct Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

These were courageous men. Men who should be remembered, praised and honored, but they did not do it alone, and so many unnamed, and forgotten men made those, and many more space flights possible. Today, most ignore and accept manned space flight as routine, and though not ubiquitous- yet, we are getting there and the promise that men like myself thought to be true, just might come to pass. I am posting the lyrics to a song that was written twenty-one years after Mercury-Redstone 3 to honor another great space flight, but I think that they apply just the same.

RUSH - Countdown
Words by Neil Peart, Music by Geddy Lee and Alex Lifeson
Dedicated with thanks to astronauts Young & Crippen and all the people of NASA for their inspiration and cooperation.

Lit up with anticipation
We arrive at the launching site
The sky is still dark, nearing dawn
On the Florida coastline

Circling choppers slash the night
With roving searchlight beams
This magic day when super-science
Mingles with the bright stuff of dreams

Floodlit in the hazy distance
The star of this unearthly show
Venting vapours, like the breath
Of a sleeping white dragon

Crackling speakers, voices tense
Resume the final count
All systems check, T minus nine
As the sun and the drama start to mount

The air is charged --- a humid, motionless mass
The crowds and the cameras,
The cars full of spectators pass
Excitement so thick --- you could cut it with a knife
Technology --- high, on the leading edge of life

The earth beneath us starts to tremble
With the spreading of a low black cloud
A thunderous roar shakes the air
Like the whole world exploding

Scorching blast of golden fire
As it slowly leaves the ground
Tears away with a mighty force
The air is shattered by the awesome sound

Like a pillar of cloud, the smoke lingers
High in the air
In fascination --- with the eyes of the world
We stare...

WP