Well, this isn't really a "DACE Memorial Blog" at all, is it? It's mostly me sounding off about things that amuse me. So here's a new one - there'll be lots of real DACE talk any day now.
Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day is an amazing photograph, just moments after launch, of the Redstone rocket that took the first American into space, 50 years ago today. What strikes me, looking at this picture, is what a tiny wee rocket this was, compared to the Saturn monsters that powered men towards the Moon. Look at the details that gave scale: the platform on the hoist just next the launch pad, presumably just big enough for a couple of people; the windows in the cabins that are part of the launch gantry. Not to mention the actual Mercury capsule itself, one-human sized, no doubt painfully cramped, perched on top of this very long pipe bomb. They stuck Al Shepherd on top of a great big firework and shot him into space - just; sub-orbital.
He got significantly higher than Joseph Kittinger had just months previously, but in a much more explosive way. Kittinger ascended gently to just under 20 miles altitude, by balloon. Then he jumped out. Nobody has ever fallen further.
Which man was crazier?
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