Word: glenn
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Astronaut John Glenn used to dread going to NASA's Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio. As a rookie pilot in the space agency's Mercury program, the 40-year-old Marine would periodically be required to strap himself into the tiny pod of a spacecraft simulator and wait for technicians to set it spinning in three dimensions at speeds exceeding 30 r.p.m. Using nothing more than a joystick, Glenn would have to bring the tumbling cockpit to heel. If he succeeded, he would continue in the program. If he failed, he could be bilged...
...John Glenn and his search for the ultimate wrinkle cure, CP wishes a safe return to a solid American. But it's a bit like a Foreman fight; you'd rather see him in his prime. So grab (as if CP had to tell you this one) The Right Stuff (1983). This way, you get Ed Harris in John Glenn's prime; he's a better actor. The cast is stacked (down to Jeff Goldblum and Harry Shearer in small parts), the film is luxuriantly long, and darn it if it don't make you want to finally learn...
...Glenn certainly isn't getting any younger ? he's 15 years the senior of Stori Musgraze, currently the oldest ever cosmonaut. But that's the whole point ? NASA will be able to look at the same astronaut, then and now, to discover whether old age makes any difference in weightlessness...
...Granted, Glenn is in such good shape that he's not your average old guy. But shooting him back into space is more than just a medical experiment. As Kluger says, "there's the romantic, emotional, adventerous value ? everything that used to be the stock in trade of the space industry." Evidently, its glory days are here again...
...Space Aged That's one small step for a senior ? 76-year-old John Glenn, set to revisit the Right Stuff this October, says he's ready for another "adventure into the unknown...