The famous Mercury Seven photograph — and an alternate version, featuring NASA public affairs officer Shorty Powers taking his place as the “eighth astronaut,” 1961

Is there anyone who could have given Reagan a bigger challenge than Walter Mondale did in 1984?

If John Glenn had just hired the right people and put together a better campaign strategy (and maybe had a bit more political charisma), he could have absolutely been able to give Ronald Reagan a run for his money in 1984.

Reagan's whole political identity was that he was the most All-Americany All-American that ever stepped foot on the political scene and that he was going to fight Communism and make America that shining city on a hill. Imagine if he had to run against John Fucking Glenn -- a fighter pilot in World War II and Korea who literally fought Communists in real combat. Oh, and then he was one of the Mercury Seven and just so happened to be the first American astronaut to ever orbit the Earth. John Glenn wasn't just an astronaut -- he was the image that people had in their heads when they thought about what an astronaut was. He's still the definition of astronaut to most Americans. He was also buddies with JFK and RFK and when he retired from NASA -- again, he was a fucking ASTRONAUT, in case I didn't make that clear -- instead of moving to Florida and going golfing, he became a U.S. Senator. Not only should John Glenn have been able to out-All-American Ronald Reagan, but he should have been able to make Reagan seem like Leonid Brezhnev. I mean, just picture Reagan trying to get cute in a debate and making some sort of joke and then Glenn saying, "I'm sorry, I don't think I heard you correctly. My ears are still adjusting from when I was a fighter pilot who shot down three actual MiG-15s and then became a FUCKING ASTRONAUT WHO ORBITED THE EARTH."

But when Glenn did seek the Democratic nomination in 1984, he ran a really crappy campaign and somehow lost to Walter Mondale (who went on to lose 49 out of 50 states to Reagan in the general election). Glenn's campaign is one of the all-time missed opportunities. He was running for President just a few months after The Right Stuff came out and reminded Americans that Glenn was not only an astronaut but THE astronaut! His campaign should have held screenings of that movie in every early primary state and just had Glenn serving apple pie and Coca-Cola outside every theater while wearing his space suit and sitting in a fighter jet and reminding folks that Reagan's "combat" duties during World War II was making training films in Burbank.

I don't know who ran John Glenn's disastrous 1984 Presidential campaign, but it was political malpractice. Just answering this question makes me mad because it's so obvious that he was the PERFECT candidate to run against Ronald Reagan. HE WAS JOHN GLENN. He was such a legendary astronaut that, years later, when NASA wanted to send an old guy to space to study the effects of space flight on aging people, they sent him! He was almost 80 years old and passed the same physicals as young astronauts! How the hell did Glenn lose the Democratic nomination to Mondale? John Glenn lost to a guy named "Fritz"! I can't believe that John Glenn couldn't even beat the guy who got beat in 49 out of 50 states in 1984.

I can't believe how frustrated I am from answering this question and slowly realizing the sheer political malpractice of John Glenn's failed 1984 Presidential campaign.

do you think the mercury seven ever explored each other’s bodies

60 years ago... Faith 7 May 1963, USAF Major Mercury astronaut Leroy Gordon “Gordo” Cooper is seen at the top of Pad  14 at Cape Canaveral looking over his one-man “Faith-7″ Mercury-Atlas spacecraft. Gordon Cooper choose to wear  both his personal wrist watches, an Accutron Astronaut tuning fork GMT pilot watch  at his right wrist and an Omega Speedmaster CK2998-4 manual winding chronograph at his  left wrist. Both watches had a Jacoby Bender Champion steel mesh bracelet and Cooper compared  his timepieces during the 34 hours 3 minutes 30 seconds long mission (22 orbits). Both watches worked flawlessly. All Mercury astronauts received an Accutron wrist watch and at  least 8 of the 12 X-15 testpilots, among whom Neil Armstrong, wore an  Accutron GMT pilot watch during X-15 hypersonic research flights. Accutron watches were worn during Mercury-Atlas 9, Gemini III, Gemini V, STS-7 and STS-51D spaceflight  missions. Earlier, astronauts Donald Deke Slayton and Walter Wally Schirra were spotted wearing an Omega Speedmaster CK2998-4. However, Alan Shepard, acting backup for Gordo Cooper lobbyed for an extra MA-10 mission, during which he was going to wear an Accutron Astronaut GMT pilot watch as seen in numerous training photographs. MA-10 was never flown. (Photo: NASA)

Alan Shepard discusses his role as Capcom at Cape Canaveral April 1961

The Flight of Freedom 7

Launched from Cape Canaveral 62 years ago today Astronaut Alan B. Shepard, Jr. became the first American in Space, during a fifteen minute suborbital flight aboard the Mercury Redstone 4 capsule Freedom 7. After a successful mission Shepard's capsule splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean and was recovered aboard a waiting Aircraft Carrier the USS Lake Champlain; Taking America's earliest steps in the Space Race which would eventually led to American Astronauts walking on the moon eight years later.

Hidden Figures

In honour of Black History Month, I'm starting to write book reviews about some of the nonfiction I'm reading

Note: As part of Black History Month, I’m trying something new: writing a book review on a new nonfiction fave. As many book reviews as I’ve written and posted, as many nonfiction books as I read, it’s not a genre I feel particularly comfortable with writing reviews for, but I thought I’d give it a whirl since I’m thinking about including more nonfiction content on my blogs other than the…

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Chrono-photo of Mercury with its sodium tail while passing by the Pleiades

l Sebastian Voltmer l April 27 ~ May 3, 2022

On this day Queen decided that the best way to sell a single was with their most ‘what are you looking at? how very dare you even touch this record?’ expressions on the cover

February 21st, 1974, London, UK - Queen Story!

Queen played "Seven Seas of Rhye" (taken from 'Queen II' album, 1974) on "Top of the Pops" replacing David Bowie

🔸"Seven Seas of Rhye"

Written by Freddie Mercury

👉 The song's success enabled Mercury to quit his day job working at a stall in London's Kensington Market.

Art from the 2023 Bandai Namco IP Calendar

Suletta Mercury/Miorine Rembran( Mobile Suit Gundam The Witch From Mercury)

Hoshimiya Ichigo (Aikatsu! 10th Story -Starway To The Future-)

Eve/Aoi Amawashi (Birdie Wing -Golf Girls' Story-)

Rimuru Tempest (That Time I Got Reincarnated As A Slime)

Gundam Marchosias (Mobile Suit Gundam Iron-Blooded Orphans Urdr-Hunt)

Miho Nishizumi (Girls Und Panzer Das Finale)

Nanase Riku (Idolish7 Third Beat!)

Kira Yamato/Athrun Zala (Mobile Suit Gundam Seed)

Leouch (Code Geass Lelouch Of The Rebellion)

Wild Tiger/Barnaby Brooks Jr. (Tiger & Bunny 2)

Susume Kodai (Star Blazers 2205)

Yohane (Yohana The Parhelion - Sunshine In The Mirror-)

Queen performing Seven Seas of Rhye on "Top of the Pops" on 14th March 1974

Bisexual Visibility Day 💙💜🩷

15 of the 44 LGBT mutants represent the B

9 women and 6 men

ℜ𝔬𝔡𝔬𝔩𝔣𝔬 𝔏𝔬𝔞𝔦𝔷𝔞

NASA Doctor William Douglas and Zodiac Seawolf On April 1, 1959, Dr. William K. Douglas, a USAF LtColonel, was selected to be the personal physician (flight surgeon) for America’s first  astronauts, the “Mercury 7”, and remained so for the entire Mercury program. In 1984, Dr William Douglas was instrumental in establishing the Mercury Seven Foundation, later renamed the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. Dr Douglas passed away in November 1998, but he had traveled to Kennedy Space Center, Florida to watch his old friend John Glenn return to space during STS-95 "Discovery" on October 29. Interesting 1961 photo showing Dr William "Bill” Douglas (1922-1998) wearing his Zodiac SeaWolf automatic wrist watch with characteristic bezel & crown. (Photo: NASA)

Can we all just appreciate how Lady Prospera just owns that Char swagger and smug charm?