Reaching for the Moon: Chapter 6

Because our parents had built us up from the inside to know that no matter what life threw at you, someone would have your back, I knew I would endure.

The agency envisioned itself developing the technology to launch weather satellites, probes we could send to the moon, and satellites that could warn us if a missile was coming.

Sputnik was unmanned, which means that no astronaut rode in it.

I knew from my college studies that the rocket’s trajectory into space would be in the shape of a parabola, a plane curve that is identical on both sides and shaped roughly like the letter U. (In this case, our parabola would look like an upside-down U.) The fact that both sides are identical made it fairly easy for me to predict where the capsule would be at any particular point in time.

We shared what we knew about the mechanics of how objects operate in space, flight trajectories and how to guide flying objects, propulsion, heating and materials, and the environment in space.

The guys looked at one another sheepishly.

It was an easy transition.

However, the overwhelming majority of White Southern citizens, as well as leaders of all stripes—from political, to religious, to civic— continued to resist the Supreme Court’s Brown decision.

But the opposition was so great that President Eisenhower sent the 101st Airborne Division of the US Army to guarantee that a group of children, who had become known as the Little Rock Nine, had safe passage as they tried to integrate Little Rock Central High School.

Every Sunday morning, our congregation would pray for the safety of our leaders, and for these courageous children and their families engaging in sit-ins and other direct forms of protest.

That same month the all-White authorities who ran the government of Norfolk delayed the start of public school in an effort to resist the court’s mandate that the city integrate.

One day, we sat at the kitchen table as she explained how she had attended a training to prepare herself to practice nonviolence even if she was attacked, as had happened during many other protests.

I knew from my college studies that the rocket’s trajectory into space would be in the shape of a parabola, a plane curve that is identical on both sides and shaped roughly like the letter U. (In this case, our parabola would look like an upside-down U.) The fact that both sides are identical made it fairly easy for me to predict where the capsule would be at any particular point in time.

I had to consider factors such as when the rocket would have to fire, when they would need to launch the spacecraft away from the rocket, the weight of the space capsule with all the equipment and astronaut in it, the rocket’s speed, the rotation of the Earth, and many other indispensable pieces of data.

In addition to the periodic glitches and blackouts, there were times when electronic computers would spit out answers so unexpected that it wasn’t clear if the machines were up to snuff.

The women’s willingness to learn new skills and reinvent themselves helped many of them save their jobs.

I was also forty years old—practically a spinster by that era’s standards.

I was also forty years old—practically a spinster by that era’s standards.

While Jimmie had been very social and outgoing, Jim was a bit bashful, a loner, very quiet, and liked to read.

I will never forget how in his inaugural speech on January 20, 1961, he called on Americans to come together to end poverty and win the Cold War.

President Kennedy also wanted to know what needed to happen for the United States to surpass the Soviet Union in space.

He was handsome, blond, and charismatic, and everyone on the base knew who he was and what he was training to do.

Glenn’s training was very rigorous, including his physical fitness.

A feat like this involved tremendous complexity.

It was a monumental task, but one I’d been preparing for since college.