In Orbit with John Glenn

Fleeting or harrowing? Take your pick:

In 1966, my father arrived home breathless one evening for dinner, to share the story that he'd just met a spaceman!  Evidently, on entering the stately front door of the Lord Jeffery Amherst Inn (then "A Treadway Resort") on the town common in Amherst that day, whom did he meet exiting the lobby with suitcase in hand?  American hero John Glenn.  The meet-up at the Lord Jeff was a fleeting moment, made smooth by my father speaking up "Hello, Mr. Glenn! May I get that door for you?" as he welcomed the spaceman.  "Thank you," said our visiting astronaut.

Flash forward to 2004:

Back to the Beach: In Orbit Again

Semper Fi Spaceman

In intervening years, this Marine had served the state of Ohio as an able Senator (1974-1999), considered running for President (1980, 1984; his slogan was "Soar to New Heights"), been punched in the face by a lunatic (1989), and returned to orbit (1998).

Now, in the summer of 2004, I was handling a music project for Discovery Channel in the new Silver Spring, MD Global HQ, and Senator Glenn made a VIP appearance for an after-hours event connected with a Discovery programming stunt on Astronomy ("Quark Week"?).  From 5:30 to 7:00 one weekday evening, we milled around the ground floor lobby with drinks before filing into the auditorium to hear Founder and Chairman John Hendricks, son of a Huntsville, AL space program engineer himself, introduce John and promote the new extravaganza.

I'd met Buzz Aldrin (he narrated my "Beyond Planet Earth" CD-ROM project and did a number of other TV projects for Discovery), and found him to be a bit of a self-promoter; I always thought he'd carried a chip on his shoulder about letting Neil get his boot down first.  Since Glenn seemed to have more of the Right Stuff, I took the opportunity to shake his hand.  I mentioned my father's 1966 adventure and made an ersatz "orbital/rotational gesture" with my arm as I said something about "coming full circle," and added something about it being a "small world."  Glenn politely picked up on these (through gritted teeth, I suspect) - he  didn't recall the kindness at the Lord Jeff, but smiled genuinely and said "I'm sure I appreciated that!" and he laughed when I told him that my mother had always admonished my brothers and me when bathing, to "Be careful - you know John Glenn slipped and hurt his head in the bathtub!"

Two mornings later before dawn - less than 48 hours after the soiree - with nobody present - a large pane of window glass fell ten stories down through the atrium into the Discovery Channel lobby, exploding like a galaxy of stars as it shattered in a zillion pieces.  Had this happened two evenings before, it could have been a disaster.

Living dangerously in orbit, in the bathtub, in Discovery Channel HQ:
God Speed, John Glenn!

Glenn/Porter '84

"Good Luck, Mr. Aldrin"

Neil Armstrong