#45: Project Mercury, Part IV

Ghosts of Arlington Podcast

This week, JFK meets with the Mercury Seven at the White House to honor Alan Shepard, specifically, and the entire team, generally, for all they have done to get America in space. Acting to build on what he knew would be short-lived momentum after Freedom 7's flight, Kennedy addresses congress and the American public about the importance of the space race, despite what would be tremendous cost. He then asked Congress to find the program and the American taxpayer to foot the bill.
Gus Grissom becomes the second American in space, but unlike Alan Shepard, he is not paraded in front of cameras at the White House after his flight. His mission was just about perfect until the landing. Let's just say his capsule, Liberty Bell 7, would be lost of 38 years. That may or may not have been Grissom's fault, but no one really wanted to think about that at the moment.
Oh yeah, and then Russia sends another cosmonaut into space and unlike the two Americans who each spent about 15 minutes in space, he stays up for nearly 25 hours! Soviet scientists are once again laughing at the US space program.
The Space Race series introduction is Lift Off by kennysvoice.
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