Do you remember?

Fifty years ago was John Glenn's flight.  I remember it clearly; we watched the whole thing on a TV in the gymnasium at school.  I was in fifth grade at the time, at Rosedale Elementary School in Denver.

Nope. It was likely the year I was born.  I do remember watching launches later on, and the space capsules returning to earth. But that was probably 1966 onward.

Oh that must be cool to remember!  It was before my time.  I guess my mother would have been a toddler at the time actually.  The only thing I remember watching or listening to during school that was big news was the OJ Simpson Trial.    Nothing exciting like that!

Very vaguely - I wasn't in school yet.

I vaguely remember. I was in eighth grade. I think we brought a TV into the classroom and watched it. I remember everyone being so excited!

No, but I was about 4 and probably found other things more interesting. :lol3:

It was a real nail-biter.  The rocket they used then was actually an ICBM, with the warhead replaced with a capsule for the astronaut.  That booster had a 25% failure rate, so there was real concern that we might see an astronaut die trying to make it to space.  And then, there was a problem on re-entry; the sensor said the heat shield might be loose.  If it was, the capsule would burn up on re-entry.  They left the retaining straps on, instead of blowing them off before re-entry.  It turned out to be just a bad sensor.

A good quote from the space program:

Interviewer:  "What are you thinking about, there in the capsule, waiting for launch?"

Astronaut:  "That I'm sitting here on top of a vehicle with 1,000,000 parts, every one of which was built by the lowest bidder."

Nope, my mom was about 7 years old so maybe she remembers!