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AMELIA EARHART
On July 2, 1937, Amelia Earhart flew away from a town called Lae in the South Pacific. Earhart was attempting to circumnavigate the globe. After taking off from Lae, she disappeared. The Superhero Historians will investigate her life, her final flight, and the possible outcomes to that flight.
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On the morning of December 7, 1941 the Imperial Japanese Navy brought a surprise attack on the United State’s Pacific Fleet in Hawaii. The attack on Pearl Harbor resulted in the destruction of the USS Arizona, 188 aircraft, and the death of 2,403 Americans. The following day Congress declared war on Japan, bringing the United States into World War II.
Remembering the attack on Pearl Harbor through the survivors. Click Here.
Who is this mysterious “Jay” and why is there a treaty named after him. Well, he’s not that mysterious of a guy. His full name is John Jay. He was one of our Founding Fathers. He may be one of those Founding Fathers you don’t hear too much about. Let’s change that.
Here is a copy of the Senate’s resolution to pass The Jay Treaty. This copy was sent to President Washington on June 24, 1795. Pretty neat! This is just to get you ready for this topic. There is a ton of great stuff, especially letters that zipped around the Colonies about The Jay Treaty.
We hope that you’ve enjoyed our series on the Space Race. We’ve definitely enjoyed writing about that exciting time in United States history.
The Superhero Historians are taking a much needed break during the Thanksgiving holiday. We will be back posting on December 3. Have a great Thanksgiving. As always, thank you for reading Superhero Historians.
Gordon Cooper’s space flight was called Faith 7. The goal of Faith 7 was to have a man in orbit for an entire day. This flight builds on the two before it. Faith 7 was completely successful. The mission lasted for 1 day, 10 hours, 19 minutes, and 49 seconds. Gordon Cooper was weightless for 34 hours, 3 minutes, and 30 seconds and traveled 546,167 miles. Let’s think about that distance. You would have to drive from New York City to Los Angeles 195 times to get near that distance. That would take 8,580 hours in a car, depending on traffic. That is about a year. Gordon Cooper did it in a little over a day. Crazy.
Colonel Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr. was the final Project Mercury astronaut to liftoff into space. He was born on March 6, 1927 in Oklahoma. He died on October 4, 2004 in California. He was 77.
Walter M. Schirra, Jr. was the next astronaut to explore space in Project Mercury. Once again the objective was to orbit the Earth, but for an even longer time. They wanted him to orbit for 9 hours. That meant 6 times around the Earth.
Remember SEALAB? Scott Carpenter is someone who has spent time in both space and under the sea. He is an astronaut/aquanot! Sounds like a superhero to me. Scott Carpenter was born on May 1, 1925 in Boulder, Colorado. He started work in the Navy in 1949. He flew in the Korean War. The missions included anti-submarine and ship surveillance. After the war he became a test pilot in Patuxent River, Maryland.
Kind of neat to see the comparison between the first manned launch and the latest manned launch.
Reuters/Scott Audette
Space is very different from Earth. Humans have flown into orbit for decades, but it is still a great unknown. The ocean is another place that is very different from Earth. Well, Project Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter has tackled both space and ocean.
Good to see everyone again! Every mission in Project Mercury had its own patch. Look at the patches below. Which one is your favorite?
I like the Glenn and Shepard patches because they show what the mission is about. The Shepard patch has Florida and the capsule going up, then coming down. The Glenn patch has three rings around the Earth!
Wouldn’t it be fun to make your own mission patches? You can make them for anything. If you are doing a school project you can design a patch for that project. If you are trying to reach any goal, make a patch!
Keep in mind that Project Mercury was full of science. The project went step by step and followed up successful launches with similar tests. This is almost like doing a science project in school. Following John Glenn’s orbit, NASA sent M. Scott Carpenter into space to orbit the Earth 3 times.
Hey everyone! I recently saw the picture below and wanted to share it with everyone. This is a picture of the inside of “Friendship 7.” That’s not John Glenn in there… well, I hope not. No, seriously, that’s just a dummy, but it gives you a good look at how cramped the capsule must have been. It would be tough to eat anything in there. That would be one problem I’d have with becoming an astronaut. “How would you like to be aboard the next shuttle launch, Barley.” “Well, that would be great, but can I bring a BBQ with some fresh salmon?” That probably wouldn’t work too well.
The measurements of Friendship 7:
Height: 9 ft.
Maximum Diameter: 6 ft 3 in.
Weight: 2,900 lbs.
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. was born on July 18, 1921. He spent a lot of time growing up in Ohio. Being born in Cambridge and going to school, up through college, in New Concord. He became a Marine fighter pilot and flew 59 combat missions in World War II. He worked as an instructor in advanced fighter training from 1948 until 1950. In Korea he flew 63 missions with Marine Fighter Squadron 311. He also flew 27 missions as an exchange pilot with the Air Force. Glenn has nearly 9,000 hours of flying time, with approximately 3,000 hours in jet aircraft. That is a lot! Wow!
NASA thought they had a problem during John Glenn’s reentry into the Earth’s atmosphere. They thought his heat shield was loose. Without the heat shield his capsule would burn up due to the extreme temperature. Well, thanks to the National Archives, we have the official transcript of John Glenn’s radio communications during that point in his flight. Click here to take a look. On the transcript, “P” is John Glenn.
