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Author
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Topic: Photo of the week 271 (January 9, 2010)
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heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 01-09-2010 02:56 AM
   
 Chief astronaut Deke Slayton (standing left) presides over one of the first meetings of the complete astronaut corps after the selection of The New Nine. Clockwise around the table are Frank Borman, Ed White, Neil Armstrong, Wally Schirra, Scott Carpenter, John Glenn, Gordo Cooper, Pete Conrad, Jim Lovell, Tom Stafford, John Young, Elliot See, Gus Grissom, Al Shepard and Jim McDivitt. Oh, to have been a fly on the wall in that meeting… Ed Hengeveld |
Philip
Member Posts: 5952
From: Brussels, Belgium
Registered: Jan 2001
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posted 01-09-2010 04:06 AM
What's the scale model in front on the table? |
heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 01-09-2010 04:34 AM
It appears to be some sort of gyroscope. |
lm5eagle
Member Posts: 429
From:
Registered: Jul 2007
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posted 01-09-2010 04:51 AM
They don't exactly look to be happy astronauts - witness Borman and Shepard in particular! |
hlbjr
Member Posts: 475
From: Delray Beach Florida USA
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 01-09-2010 06:34 AM
Knowing those guys, I think they're just trying to be cool while sizing up the competition. Almost everyone in the photo has their "game face" on.Harvey Brown
Delray Beach, FL |
Tom
Member Posts: 1597
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 01-09-2010 09:26 AM
Can you imagine having that photo autographed.... Great shot, Ed. |
Paul23
Member Posts: 836
From: South East, UK
Registered: Apr 2008
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posted 01-09-2010 10:10 AM
I reckon it was more like everyone was cheerfully smiling then the photographer suggested the Russians had a better set of cosmonauts. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1505
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 01-09-2010 10:21 AM
Interesting to note the dynamic of the seating arrangement. Shepard has an expression which indicates he knows he's at the top of the emerging pecking order. Borman and McDivitt are sitting right up at the front with him. Grissom looks like he was caught in the men's room just before they went in the room, and is now thinking why he let one of those guys take his seat. Slayton's probably thinking "I'm the boss now. We shall see. We shall see."  |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1505
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 01-09-2010 10:26 AM
Caption:"As the curtain is opened to reveal the spacecraft the guys will be training to fly, a completely pink Gemini capsule is revealed. The room goes so quiet you can hear a pin drop, as Wally Schirra pulls off his first "gotcha" on the Nine New Guys." |
ejectr
Member Posts: 1751
From: Killingly, CT
Registered: Mar 2002
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posted 01-09-2010 10:56 AM
Look at the history in that room.
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Kite
Member Posts: 831
From: Northampton UK
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 01-09-2010 11:29 AM
That is the only photo I have ever seen of all members of both groups together. Superb. |
Delta7
Member Posts: 1505
From: Bluffton IN USA
Registered: Oct 2007
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posted 01-09-2010 11:46 AM
Everyone in that room except for Carpenter (who had already flown) and See had at least one spaceflight ahead of them, all the way through 1998, 36 years later.Mercury, Gemini, Apollo CSM and LM; LRV; Skylab; ASTP, Space Shuttle, Spacelab and Spacehab were all missions and spacecraft that would involve/be used by at least one person in the picture. 7 would fly to the moon. (2 of them twice). 4 would walk on the moon. 2 would walk in space. 2 would fly the Space Shuttle. 3 would die in the line of duty. Great picture! |
mjanovec
Member Posts: 3811
From: Midwest, USA
Registered: Jul 2005
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posted 01-09-2010 11:54 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Kite:
That is the only photo I have ever seen of all members of both groups together. Superb.
There is at least one other example that comes to mind. I suspect there are more out there, but not many. |
Kite
Member Posts: 831
From: Northampton UK
Registered: Nov 2009
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posted 01-09-2010 03:28 PM
Thanks mjanovec for the second photo. A lot more formal than Ed's, which appears more relaxed, but much appreciated. |
Lou Chinal
Member Posts: 1306
From: Staten Island, NY
Registered: Jun 2007
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posted 01-09-2010 07:32 PM
Ed, do you have a date for this photo? |
heng44
Member Posts: 3387
From: Netherlands
Registered: Nov 2001
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posted 01-10-2010 04:37 AM
No official date, but my estimate is January 1963. |
hlbjr
Member Posts: 475
From: Delray Beach Florida USA
Registered: Mar 2006
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posted 01-10-2010 09:19 AM
If it is January 1963 then poor Gordo is unflown just like the new guys.Harvey Brown
Delray Beach, FL |
Hart Sastrowardoyo
Member Posts: 3445
From: Toms River, NJ
Registered: Aug 2000
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posted 01-10-2010 09:31 AM
quote:
Originally posted by lm5eagle:
They don't exactly look to be happy astronauts - witness Borman and Shepard in particular!
Maybe their expression is because of what Deke is holding in his hand? "Okay, people. We got this letter from this guy who wants autographs of all the current astronauts, four sets for each of his kids, all uninscribed...."  |
Tom
Member Posts: 1597
From: New York
Registered: Nov 2000
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posted 01-10-2010 11:32 AM
quote:
Originally posted by Delta7:
Everyone in that room except for Carpenter (who had already flown) and See had at least one spaceflight ahead of them, all the way through 1998, 36 years later...
...and how many there could have imagined that two of those astronauts would actually link up with 2 Soviet cosmonauts in orbit! |
carmelo
Member Posts: 1047
From: Messina, Sicilia, Italia
Registered: Jun 2004
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posted 01-10-2010 08:57 PM
Note that the picture is before the President Kennedy murder. I think that is take in July-September 1963. |
ASCAN1984
Member Posts: 1049
From: County Down, Nothern Ireland
Registered: Feb 2002
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posted 01-14-2010 02:07 PM
Notice how all but four of the Original 7 stick together at the back- |
Apollo Redux
Member Posts: 346
From: Montreal, Quebec, Canada
Registered: Sep 2006
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posted 01-17-2010 07:19 PM
Wow. What history. |
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