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Post by Jaga on Dec 8, 2016 15:18:08 GMT -7
I have nothing against John Glenn, but he was just lucky enough to have a full-life. Many people want to achieve something but are not given a chance. I would still not call him a hero. I think that public opinion is mixing FAME with heroism. If somebody is an actor, that means that this person was lucky or unscrupulous enough to be able to get through a very difficult selection process. If somebody is an astronaut that means that this person could be a pilot.... and was lucky enough to be selected to be an astronaut and fly and be born in a right times. So many people die pre-maturely and completely forgotten. www.washingtonpost.com/national/john-glenn-first-american-to-orbit-the-earth-dies-at-95/2016/12/08/98863c00-b967-11e6-a677-b608fbb3aaf6_story.html?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_prebuild-johnglenn-obit%3Ahomepage%2Fstory&utm_term=.df76d300f585John Glenn, first American to orbit the Earth, dies at 95John Glenn, who captured the nation’s attention in 1962 as the first American to orbit the Earth during a tense time when the United States sought supremacy over the Soviet Union in the space race, and who rocketed back into space 36 years later, becoming the oldest astronaut in history, died Dec. 8 at a hospital in Columbus, Ohio. Mr. Glenn, who in his post-NASA career served four terms as a U.S. senator from Ohio, was 95. The death was confirmed by Hank Wilson, communications director at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at Ohio State University. Mr. Glenn had a stroke after heart-valve replacement surgery in 2014, but the immediate cause was not announced. Mr. Glenn was one of the seven original astronauts in NASA’s Mercury program, which was a conspicuous symbol of the country’s military and technological might at the height of the Cold War. He was not the first American in space — two of his fellow astronauts preceded him — but his three-orbit circumnavigation of the globe captured the imagination of his countrymen like few events before or since. Mr. Glenn was the last survivor of the Mercury Seven. “John always had the right stuff,” President Obama said in a statement, adding that Mr. Glenn “reminded us that with courage and a spirit of discovery there’s no limit to the heights we can reach together.” In an era when fear of encroaching Soviet influence reached from the White House to kindergarten classrooms, Mr. Glenn, in his silver astronaut suit, lifted the hopes of a nation on his shining shoulders. When he emerged smiling from his Friendship 7 capsule after returning from space, cheers echoed throughout the land. |
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Post by kaima on Dec 8, 2016 21:36:01 GMT -7
Jaga,, "Hero" is an overused word in America. From my life observations heroic deeds and brave actions are happily rather common, and common among the Common Man.
Yes, sitting on top of tons of exotic fuel is brave, but it is also adventurous, and there is the lure of fame to add to the attraction and desire to be an astronaut. I cannot say it is any more brave than some of the protective actions taken by teachers and others at Sandy Hook and other mass shootings. Perhaps it is even LESS heroic, considering the actions, the backup, and the measured risk associated with rocket science.
Concluding, I don't have wish to take anything from Glenn, but the other heroes are shortchanged by comparison. But no one ever said life is fair.
Kai
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Post by Jaga on Dec 8, 2016 22:45:39 GMT -7
Kai, yes, many people are doing things like washing dishes, cleaning houses and taking care of the children and elderly and their important work is forgotten, since it is not adventurous enough.
John Glenn tried to use his fame to do political career and even become a president. Many people would like but never can do anything like that!
I agree with Sandy Hook, but I think many regular teachers are working extra hours helping kids with no job protection and their work is overlooked. Many people just do not have enough power to influence or cause any change.
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Post by kaima on Dec 9, 2016 7:09:52 GMT -7
Kai, yes, many people are doing things like washing dishes, cleaning houses and taking care of the children and elderly and their important work is forgotten, since it is not adventurous enough. John Glenn tried to use his fame to do political career and even become a president. Many people would like but never can do anything like that! I agree with Sandy Hook, but I think many regular teachers are working extra hours helping kids with no job protection and their work is overlooked. Many people just do not have enough power to influence or cause any change. Jaga, that is very much right. I chose to identify the extraordinary but common heroism of our everyday, but you have properly identified the common heroism that we see and do not credit. How much more courage and sacrifice does it take for someone, for example, to spend a lifetime as self-sacrificing caregiver than to engage in a short duration act that is highly visible and readily praised. |
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Post by JustJohn or JJ on Dec 9, 2016 7:43:34 GMT -7
Just maybe he has the right to be called a hero for his surviving his time as a POW during the Vietnam war and surviving his tortures and injuries from this.
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Post by kaima on Dec 9, 2016 17:56:40 GMT -7
Just maybe he has the right to be called a hero for his surviving his time as a POW during the Vietnam war and surviving his tortures and injuries from this. Are you sure you don't have him confused with McCain? Just read a bio on Glenn and he fought in WW II and in Korea and was not shot down, nor was there mention of status as POW. His plane was painted with a big M in Korea, with MIG Mad and Marine trailing off of the edge of the big M. |
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Post by JustJohn or JJ on Dec 10, 2016 4:25:44 GMT -7
Just maybe he has the right to be called a hero for his surviving his time as a POW during the Vietnam war and surviving his tortures and injuries from this. Are you sure you don't have him confused with McCain? Just read a bio on Glenn and he fought in WW II and in Korea and was not shot down, nor was there mention of status as POW. His plane was painted with a big M in Korea, with MIG Mad and Marine trailing off of the edge of the big M. Kai, you're right. I have him mentally confused with McCain. |
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Post by karl on Dec 10, 2016 5:39:59 GMT -7
A label of hero for Mr. John Glenn? I really do not believe so. The label of hero is simply tacked on by those with out the ability to accomplish what Mr. Glenn as done in his life.
For one, there is a vast difference in mentality of a fighter pilot, and this is what Mr. Glenn is made of. His was the hunters instinct to hunt and kill his nations named enemies. These were not his personal enemies but other pilots so named as such. His work was to kill enemy machines and as the case would be, the enemy pilot of that machine.
His {Glenn} instincts as a hunter and strong survival instincts are coupled with the aggressiveness that is the mark of his trade. This aggressiveness was then coupled with the engineering requirement once into the business of testing new aircraft by specified engineering actions to put the machine through. Each maneuvour calculated to place a specific stress on specific parts of both the power plant and airframe. This then to test a new design to its limits before failure.
The above is not random flying about the sky, but a specified manner of a testing programme requiring skill and daring, for this then, fits the mind set of a fighter pilot.
The space programme that Mr. Glenn then later entered, is simply a continuation of his fighter pilot mentality that was then transposed to Air craft testing then once again reconstituted into the space programme his mentality was a perfect fit.
Hero? I do not believe so, what Mr. Glenn possessed, as a very pleasant visual personality well suited for public appearance. A man of distinction, yes, for this Mr. Glenn earnt this right...
Karl
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Post by Eric on Dec 10, 2016 9:50:53 GMT -7
Astronauts in the United States and cosmonauts in the USSR and other socialist countries (Poland had its own cosmonaut through the Soviet Interkosmos program) were venerated as heroes once upon a time. Now, however, people travel to the International Space Station on a regular basis, there's no other manned activity in space (other than occasional Chinese experiments which are largely overlooked in the West compared to the massive program of the ISS), and it's become kind of routine.
Astronauts and cosmonauts are no longer viewed as heroes, but rather as people with somewhat unique jobs. There isn't much new that they do, anyway, since space stations have existed for over 40 years. The last moon landing was 40 years ago. Everything since then has been in low-Earth orbit, on either space shuttles or space capsules or space stations. There's no more exploring, no more traveling, and everything seems like merely a larger repetition of what's already been done.
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Post by Jaga on Dec 13, 2016 12:50:28 GMT -7
Astronauts and cosmonauts are no longer viewed as heroes, but rather as people with somewhat unique jobs. Eric, I agree. Do you remember a couple of years ago there was this astronaut-lady who was driving 10 hours, in pampers, in order to kill another woman - some kind of a love triangle among the astronauts... I am glad that this story is gone, but it showed the vulnerability of every human. |
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Post by Eric on Dec 14, 2016 17:02:42 GMT -7
Yes, even astronauts can have complicated private lives.
Khrushchov wanted Tereshkova to marry another cosmonaut, which she did, but, of course, it wasn't a marriage that was meant to last.
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Post by Jaga on Dec 14, 2016 23:34:01 GMT -7
Eric, I think Tereshkova could not have children also due to being exposed to too much cosmic radiation. Not sure, still at least she was a role model for women.... and I respect her for that!
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Post by JustJohn or JJ on Dec 15, 2016 5:28:16 GMT -7
Eric, I think Tereshkova could not have children also due to being exposed to too much cosmic radiation. Not sure, still at least she was a role model for women.... and I respect her for that! Jaga, This is the first time I have heard of this probability. If the exposure to cosmic radiation is a problem would not the future female astronauts and cosmonauts be in danger and not allowed in space? |
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Post by Eric on Dec 15, 2016 10:28:03 GMT -7
Eric, I think Tereshkova could not have children also due to being exposed to too much cosmic radiation. Not sure, still at least she was a role model for women.... and I respect her for that! Tereshkova does have a daughter, Elena, born in 1964.  |
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