
John Glenn has died - oaf357
http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/12/john-glenn/john-glenn.html
======
kumarski
I grew up next to mission control and many of my neighbors and friends'
parents were involved in Mission Control and/or Astronauts or both. Oddly, in
the middle of nowhere Texas - Clear Lake. This gave me some interesting run-
ins with cosmonauts, astronauts, physicists etc...

I was lucky enough to meet John Glenn on 3 separate occasions.

The first time, I discussed Plutonium 238 and my worries for satellite power
given decommissioning of mission critical battery fodder for satellites on
earth.

The second time, the viability of a colorblind astronaut.(I have deuteranopia
and he explained to me the structure of the consoles and the switching costs
of changing out colors and the follow on risk/reward of color confusion).

The third time, how we could keep more funding for NASA scale projects without
having to keep offices in 50 different states for political pressure. He said
he could go on for hours about this.

All 3 times, he was sharp, inspiring, and a pleasure to be around.

Today, humanity has lost the Lee Iacocca of Space.

One of my favorite quotes by him that I think is incredibly relevant right
now: "The most important thing we can do is inspire young minds and to advance
the kind of science, math and technology education that will help youngsters
take us to the next phase of space travel."

~~~
hackuser
> humanity has lost the Lee Iacocca of Space

Perhaps you could explain the comparison to a somewhat famous car company
executive ...

~~~
kumarski
John Glenn was an engineer.

Lee Iacocca was an engineer.

Elon Musk is not an engineer.

~~~
theoh
Yet, "In order to be an engineer, it is not enough to be an engineer." Jose
Ortega y Gasset.

No profession has a monopoly on competence.

~~~
kumarski
He made a monstrously inaccurate statement about the area of a solar panel and
the power output of an area equivalent with the surface area of a nuclear
power plant. I thought he was well versed in how utilities and energy work,
but this made me see him in a different light.

[https://youtu.be/UKT2tKmVk6g?t=16m52s](https://youtu.be/UKT2tKmVk6g?t=16m52s)

I at one time thought Elon Musk was monstrously good engineer, but I found out
he was a physicist recently.

~~~
d_e_solomon
> but I found out he was a physicist recently

The horror.

~~~
kumarski
I get upvoted for being an engineer, but downvoted for pointing out an actual
inaccuracy. Go figure.

------
Huhty
"As I hurtled through space, one thought kept crossing my mind - every part of
this rocket was supplied by the lowest bidder." \- John Glenn.

RIP sir.

~~~
pryelluw
Still applies to most software. Nuts.

------
ChuckMcM
This deserves a black bar (IMO)

John Glenn was very influential on me as a student. He gave a talk at my high
school about how learning as much as you could prepared you for the
unexpected. He certainly put that to the test (as all of the astronauts then
and now) do. The stakes are high, the resources limited, and time for a
solution is finite. God speed John Glenn.

~~~
Waterluvian
What's a black bar?

~~~
freehunter
Blacking out the orange bar at the top of the site. Traditionally done in
mourning.

~~~
thecrazyone
You know, I was wondering what site. Perhaps, it's some sort of an orange
thing on the launch site (of rockets). The sudden context switch of parent
comments talking about astronauts got me :-)

I've never seen the orange bar being blacked out recently (since I've been a
member).

Glenn does seem like a swell guy!

Edit: fix typos

------
rmason
John Glenn was one of my boyhood heroes. I remember as a young boy listening
to reports of him taking off and making those three orbits of the earth.

My uncle gave me a crystal radio shaped like Glenn's Friendship 7 capsule that
ignited a fierce passion into radio that led to a ham radio license and a
lifelong interest in science.

It was a time in America when the future seemed endless, anything was
possible. A lot has changed since then but that sense of optimism has never
completely left me and may be the reason despite one crash and burn that I am
still an entrepreneur. Still hopeful for a better future.

~~~
noonespecial
>It was a time in America when the future seemed endless, anything was
possible.

Somewhere between _" We choose to go to the moon"_ and _" if you see
something, say something"_ we traded all of our hope and optimism for fear and
suspicion.

I'm just hoping for hope again.

~~~
bpodgursky
That's a really simplistic way of thinking about it.

The red scare continued through the late 1950s (and the cold war continued for
decades -- there was no lack of fear and suspicion).

John Glen orbited the earth in 1962, in the middle of all this.

The nation doesn't wake up, flip and coin and decide it's either optimistic or
fearful one day. You can be scared of some things and optimistic about others.
Or both at the same time. Or some people are optimistic, and others have more
fears.

It's complicated, but pithy quotes ("I'm just hoping for hope again") are
stupid.

~~~
dragonwriter
> John Glen orbited the earth in 1962, in the middle of all this.

And almost entirely because of it; the U.S. space program didn't evolve
independently of, or in tension with, the fear of Communism.

~~~
bpodgursky
Yeah. Having a common fear or enemy is often the _cause_ for optimism and
rallying around common goals. It's stupid to suggest that fear prevents us
from striving for great things.

~~~
thecrazyone
Chill out man, no need to be so judgemental (in reference to you calling
things stupid)

------
owenversteeg
He was an amazing man.

Fun fact: the most popular years for babies named Glenn and John was 1962 and
1963 respectively [0,1], and you can see a little spike in births for both
around the time John Glenn orbited the earth. Glenn entered the NASA test
program without the required degree in a scientific field. He was the oldest
man to fly in space, at age 77, and one of the last people to receive a ticker
tape parade (the last one to receive multiple ticker-tape parades)

IMHO if he qualified as one of a handful of people to get a ticker-tape
parade, he definitely qualifies for a black bar.

[0]
[https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=first+name+john](https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=first+name+john)

[1]
[https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=first+name+glenn](https://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=first+name+glenn)

~~~
billmalarky
>He was the oldest man to fly in space, at age 77

My (then teenaged) brother had a change to meet John in the early 90s. He
asked him, "Why don't you go back to space?" and suggested he go back up if
the opportunity presented itself.

We'll never know if that had any bearing on John Glenn's decision to return
(maybe he already planned to I don't know), but I like to think it certainly
did. Maybe just hearing the idea out loud, even from a teen, made the thought
of it less crazy.

------
thearn4
I'm saddened to hear this, but it's also not exactly out of the blue given his
age.

Godspeed, Sen. (Col.) Glenn. It's an honor to work at your namesake NASA
facility.

~~~
tzakrajs
As a Cleveland-native, I will never forget John Glenn and how his legacy
brought honor to the area.

~~~
squarefoot
As a Earth-native living half a planet away, I also will never forget what him
and other great people have done.

------
koenigdavidmj
When he went up again in '98, it was another big justification to talk about
it in schools. I wasn't alive for Challenger, but this (I was still in
elementary school) was another one of those moments I really remember getting
me excited about STEM.

------
jason_slack
RIP.

I have to wonder, these first missions, did the astronauts have any assurance
they would make it back to earth? What was it like to say goodbye to family,
not knowing if you would return or not.

Am I way off here? Was this mission uncertain or did NASA have reasonable
assurances?

~~~
Amorymeltzer
You've got to read The Right Stuff[1], it's fantastic. Tom Wolfe paints the
ethos of the era perfectly, and if you have any interest in this period, early
NASA, or the guys themselves it's a must-read.

I'd also recommend Chuck Yeager's autobiography[2] as another fantastic read
that gives you a feel for what life was like for elite test pilots.

1: [https://smile.amazon.com/Right-Stuff-Tom-
Wolfe/dp/0312427565...](https://smile.amazon.com/Right-Stuff-Tom-
Wolfe/dp/0312427565/)

2: [https://smile.amazon.com/Yeager-Autobiography-
Chuck/dp/05532...](https://smile.amazon.com/Yeager-Autobiography-
Chuck/dp/0553256742/)

~~~
bernardom
The other classic (and _definitely_ an HN-appropriate book) is "Failure Is Not
an Option," which gives an awesome look at the engineering and management
challenges they faced from Mercury to Apollo.

[https://smile.amazon.com/Failure-Not-Option-Mission-
Control/...](https://smile.amazon.com/Failure-Not-Option-Mission-
Control/dp/1439148813)

~~~
photogrammetry
The title, it should be disclaimed, is not what the astronauts or flight
controllers believed. It's a poor abbreviation of the following:

"No, when bad things happened, we just calmly laid out all the options, and
failure was not one of them. We never panicked, and we never gave up on
finding a solution."

source:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Kranz#.22Failure_is_not_a...](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gene_Kranz#.22Failure_is_not_an_option.22)

~~~
andars
I've read the book, and Kranz definitely says at least once that the phrase
"failure is not an option" is a good summary of what the flight controllers
believed. Could you perhaps elaborate on what you mean by your comment?

~~~
sailfast
As Kranz lays out in the book (and as indicated in the wiki) "Failure is not
an option" was written by the Apollo 13 screenwriters. The original quote was
by the FIDO at the time which was adapted for the movie. Kranz has since
started using it as it summarizes the idea more succinctly.

~~~
andars
I understand. I was asking for an elucidation of the comment that it was "not
what the astronauts or flight controllers believed" and is a "poor
abbreviation".

------
larrydag
If you ever get a chance go to Washington DC Air and Space Museum and find the
Friendship 7 which is right at the main entrance. John Glenn literally flew
around the Earth in space in a vehicle the size of a refrigerator. It is so
staggering. The man is a legend.

------
Animats
That's the last of the Original Seven from the Mercury program.

------
rpledge
Godspeed, John Glenn....

~~~
larrydag
I found out this week that John Glenn never actually heard that said. He was
listening on a different mission frequency.

------
libria
Surprised the article didn't mention it, but he was the last living member of
the Mercury 7.

------
cs02rm0
Sad news. My dad (a fast jet pilot) took us to Florida, from the UK, to watch
him go up in 1998.

I didn't really know who he was at the time but it's not often I've seen my
dad look up (no pun intended) to someone. Left an impression on me and is
probably no small part of the reason my own 4 year old son was running round
with a rocket and a model astronaut ("Tim Peake") this morning.

RIP.

------
efrafa
He was great in one episode of Frasier.

~~~
tnecniv
I couldn't believe they actually got him. Those last couple of seasons had
some really quality guest appearances.

(Also, all episodes of Frasier are great...)

------
billmalarky
"a remarkably healthy life spent almost from the cradle with Annie, his
beloved wife of 73 years, who survives."

His marriage lasted longer than global average life expectancy! Truly a
remarkable man.

------
kristofferR
Those who haven't heard about him should watch "When We Left Earth", a
fantastic documentary miniseries about NASA.

He was one of the many NASA astronauts interviewed.

~~~
rbanffy
We really should leave Earth more often...

------
grandwigg
I wish I had something profound, but all I have is the VHS I taped over Power
Rangers to see the first senior citizen in space, along with the coverage
taking about his historic orbits. I do what is amazing is with all our
advances, all we seem to do is chunk metal into orbit. Still, he and his
cohort have inspired many to do what I cannot, so perhaps I will someday see
another space milestone.

------
Fezzik
Perhaps not totally on-topic, but he was also hilarious and charasmatic, as
evidenced by his guest appearance on Frasier. I knew his name when I saw the
episdoe years ago, but his charm got me to read much more about him.

[https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vO4iNhaQms0](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vO4iNhaQms0)

------
sizzzzlerz
Another of my childhood heroes is gone. I was 8 years old when Glenn went up
into space and I still remember the black and white images of the launch,
landing, and parades that ensued. I've been obsessed with space and its
exploration ever since. Glenn is truly an American hero in every sense of the
word.

------
oxide
I lived in the Imperial Valley for a few years, from the way they talk about
John Glenn I thought he was born and raised there.

Nope, he's from Ohio. He passed over the valley (El Centro, specifically,
IIRC) when he re-entered the atmosphere, it was just a claim to fame to
attract tourists to the middle of nowhere.

------
mabbo
To live half the live that man did is to live a hell of a live.

Godspeed.

------
FullMtlAlcoholc
People like John Glenn are the reason why I became infatuated with the space
program and STEM. He showed the heights humanity could reach by using science
and knowledge to become masters of our own destiny instead of victims of
nature and fate. Before personal computers, before the Internet, before
cellphones, humans landed on the moon & live streamed it to 600 million
people. EDIT: I feel the same way for artists like H.R. Giger, William Gibson,
James Cameron, and Neal Stephenson. It's become fashionable for many to deride
the value of a non-STEM education. But if it weren't for them and their
creation of the cyberpunk ethos/genre and tech-noir, I'd most likely be
working at a bank or a hedge fund in a decidely non-technical role.

I also highly commend and greatly respect him for his efforts in nuclear non-
proliferation. I imagine when you've seen earth from the view he had, you
can't help seeing how small our differences actually are. That said, he wasn't
perfect. His testimony in favor of excluding women from the astronaut program
kept them from going on a mission until the 80's. To his credit, by the 1970's
he had changed his mind and began supporting a female astronaut (Judith
Resnick...interestingly she was recruited into the program by none than Lt.
Uhura/Nichelle Nichols ) in her endeavors to join the astronaut program.
Ultimately and unfortunately, she was a member of the ill-fated _Challenger_
crew. Glenn gave a touching and inspirational speech at her memorial service
that is worth reading:
[https://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/memorial.html](https://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/memorial.html)

Off topic rant: As I hear this news, I'm reminded of the whole Buzz Aldrin
dustup. While I'm no advocate of violence, I was inspired when he decked that
looney conspiracy theorist who claimed the moon landings were faked. Despite
the fact that you can literally shine lasers on the pieces of spacecraft left
on the Moon and see the reflections, there are still those forces of ignorance
who refuse to accept reality even as it stares them right in the eye. Most
people in his position and especially at his age would simply try to avoid
that confrontation and be content to let charlatans spread their destructive,
nonsensical fictions. John Glenn was not that man. For some reason, that
incident is what truly sticks out in my mind about him and I always associate
him with this image: [http://www.themarysue.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/05/3779149...](http://www.themarysue.com/wp-
content/uploads/2016/05/3779149-no-you-move-cap-says.jpg) It's probably
because I associate him with being the last of a dying breed, a modern hero in
an increasingly cynical, post-modern society.

------
imode
as your body lay here on earth, your soul has touched the stars.

thanks for spending time with us.

rest in peace.

------
rbanffy
Damn you, 2016. :-(

------
halcyondaze
RIP to a true boss.

------
ffk
[Removing, comment was about someone else, sorry]

~~~
slg
Do you maybe have him confused with someone else? John Glenn was the first
American to orbit the Earth, but he wasn't on any of the Apollo missions.

~~~
ffk
You're right, I do.

------
AnimalMuppet
I was born three days after his flight. There was a large upsurge in the names
"John" and "Glenn" for newborn males, which I somehow escaped...

------
giodamelio
I think he deserves a black bar if anyone does.

~~~
jjcm
I certainly wont complain if we do put up a black bar for Glenn, but at the
same time I feel like the black bar should represent a death of someone who
directly contributed or was actively a part of the hacker community. While
Glenn was immensely inspirational, he never really felt like a part of who we
are.

~~~
SEJeff
I couldn't (respectfully) disagree more. He has inspired a generation of us,
myself included.

My grandmother used to lead the Indianapolis Aero Club and somehow managed to
get him as a speaker. My parents made the 2ish hour drive up just for me to
hear one of my heros, Col John Glenn, talk for ~30 minutes (I was maybe 12-13
at the time?). While I did not ultimately achieve my dream of being an
astronaut like him, I did however find my way into aerospace engineering and
engineering in general as a result. He really inspired me on to greatness by
being so down to earth and matter of fact.

And now I'll say something a bit controversial. The world needs more people
like him, and less people like Zuckerberg. While building the next $web_thing
or unicorn startup is cool, inspiring an entire generation is a whole lot
cooler. Rest in peace John!

~~~
jlgaddis
It seems weird to "run into" someone from the same area here on HN (I grew up
about two hours "down" from Indianapolis) -- it certainly isn't exactly a
booming high-tech area!

~~~
ajw
Also grew up in Indy. We're a nomadic bunch.

------
Lucas123
John Glenn was a true American hero.

He was a U.S. Marine fighter pilot who flew 59 combat missions over the South
Pacific during WWII and 63 combat missions during the Korean War. He was
awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross for heroism or extraordinary
achievement six times! In Korea, he got the nickname "magnet ass" because he
attracted so much enemy flak on his missions.

Oh yeah, and then he went on to become a test pilot, the first American to
orbit the Earth, a five-term U.S. senator, and the oldest man to ever enter
space.

If you're ever looking for someone for your kids to look up to, this is the
man.

------
rcarmo
"At 77, he orbited the Earth with six astronauts aboard shuttle Discovery,
once again rendering his body and mind to the study of science, providing
insight into how the oldest man ever launched into space held up. Glenn,
remarkably fit, became an inspiration once again to mankind."

I teared up at this bit. The right stuff, indeed.

