Fifty Years Ago Today...

[SpacemanSpiff]

(no, this isn't a Sgt. Pepper's reference)

Today marks the 50th anniversary of Ed White's spacewalk (the US's first EVA; Alexi Leonov had done it a few months prior).

I always remember this for several reasons. One, obviously, was seeing it (as it was) on TV. Another was that I had the subsequent Revell kit -- I pretty much built all of the space kits when they came out, and this one was rather unique.



The third is for the spacewalk stamp, and this for two reasons noted below:

The Post Office commissioned designer Paul Calle to design the stamp. Calle developed a pair of complementary (twin) stamps, marking the first time the United States printed attached stamps that blend into a single complete design, with the right stamp showing the Gemini 4 space capsule with the Earth's horizon as a backdrop, while the left stamp showed astronaut Ed White making the first American spacewalk.

Calle purported NOT to intend for his design to represent any living person, since it was against Post Office regulations to do so on a U.S. postage stamp design. However, the equipment in the image made it evident that he had used NASA's photographs from the Gemini IV mission.

USPS generally (other than US Presidents) doesn't depict famous folks until at least 10 years after they have died. There was a similar controversy with the First Moon Landing commemorative stamp -- it wasn't Neil Armstrong, it was officially Any Average Astronaut Who Happened To Be The First To Walk On The Moon.

[earendel]

In the early 70s I was in a singing group called "Sing Out OKC", an offshoot of "Up With People". One of the songs in our repertoire, for which I got to sing the solo, was about Ed White. I couldn't find any YouTube rendering of it nor did Google find the lyrics, but as I recall it went something like this.

"On June 3rd of 1965 at 10:16 AM
At Cape Kennedy two astronauts had a nation watching them.
Perched atop their Titan rocket in their capsule Gemini Four
Majors White and Mc Divitt lifted skyward with a roar.

At 3:15 that afternoon on orbit number 3
They depressurized their capsule very gradually.
As he opened up the hatch I wish I could have seen his face
As Ed White stepped out into space."

And the chorus was:
"Ed White, what a sight he saw
What a brave and lucky guy
As he made his famous walk across the sky."

The final chorus, however, changed the last line to reflect White's death in the Apollo 1 fire:
"Now he walks forever more across the sky."

[Bob78164]

Memorial
by Julia Ecklar

When you sing of Columbia or the Eagle
And reach for the stars as your ultimate goal,
Recall who fell along the way,
For the star road takes a fearsome toll,
The star road takes a fearsome toll.

And it might have been Armstrong, Aldrin, Cernan,
Cooper, Carpenter, Shepard, or Glenn.
They all knew well the questor's fee
And the star road's paved with the lives of men.
The star road's paved with the lives of men.

And the price was paid on a winter evening
When "Fire in the spacecraft!" someone said.
In smoke and flames the shadow passed,
And in Capsule Twelve three men were dead,
In Capsule Twelve three men were dead.

Forget not yet who paid the forfeit
To conquer the stars in the Eagle's flight.
"It's worth the price," they said who paid:
Grissom, Chaffee, and Edward White.
Grissom, Chaffee, and Edward White.

[Estonut]

Fifty Years Ago Today...
(no, this isn't a Sgt. Pepper's reference)

Of course not. That would be "It was twenty years ago today..."

[Vandal]

Fifty Years Ago Today...
(no, this isn't a Sgt. Pepper's reference)

Of course not. That would be "It was twenty years ago today..."

If you start a similar thread on June 1, 2017 it will be a perfect Sgt. Pepper's reference.

[wbtravis007]

I was in elementary school in Houston with his son Ed Jr. They were very nice. I remember Ed White jogging at Meyerland Park in the old-style grey sweats while we were at Little League or football practice, back before anyone else was jogging. I was 11 at the time of the Gemini 4 mission.

Really sad when the accident happened.