January 21, 2008
Will next John Glenn please step forward?
Group has plans for anniversary; has doubters, too
By Kenneth Keener
Times Staff Writer
The group hoping to celebrate the 50th anniversary of America’s first orbiting spaceman by recreating John Glenn’s 1962 Mercury mission is accepting applications from potential astronauts.
American’s in Orbit-50 Years President Craig Russell said questions about what the applicants can expect – possible pay or benefits, the training they will receive, who is making the final selection – are among many details of the project still being worked out.
But the nonprofit group hopes to name an astronaut in a couple of years, if fundraising and other factors come together to make the project a reality, so decided to begin gauging interest.
“Basically, we wanted to get the word out early on this so that when 2010 rolls around no one will be surprised,” Russell said.
He made the announcement during a recent meeting of the Huntsville Alabama L5 Society, the local chapter of the National Space Society, during which he outlined AIO-50’s goals.
The idea is to raise about $35 million to buy a Falcon 9 rocket from California-based SpaceX, which has a launch facility at Cape Canaveral. Russell said another $ 10 million or so would be needed to build an improved Mercury capsule, capitalizing on the original plans and engineering.
He hopes to put together a consortium of universities to build the capsule, which would splash down in the ocean after orbiting, just as Glenn did after three orbits on Feb. 20, 1962.
Chris Kraft, NASA flight director for Glenn’s mission, thinks it’s great that people want to commemorate the achievement and honor the pioneers involved. But he doesn’t think much of AIO-50’s idea.
“I think it’s dangerous and I don’t think the government will let him do it,” Kraft said Friday in a phone interview from his home near Johnson Space Center in Houston.
Kraft was America’s first manned space mission flight director, managing all the Mercury and some of the Gemini missions among many other roles with NASA, including director of Johnson from 1972-82, when he retired from government service.
He worked for the space agency’s predecessor, the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics, and joined then new NASA in 1958, becoming one of the original Space Task Group members who designed the Project Mercury program.
Kraft said that it is going to be far more difficult and far more expensive to update the 50-year-old design than the AIO-50 group realizes “by several orders of magnitude.”
“Even if they were able to do it, they will still have to prove to officials that the mating
Of the new booster rocket, capsule and escape system are safe and “man-rated,” and that kind of testing will add still more layers of expense and complexity, he said.
“I understood from the beginning that it was going to be a very difficult undertaking,” Russell said Friday. “I appreciate Mr. Kraft’s comments and hope that he will join us to make it happen.”
A panel, to include a flight surgeon, will be formed to choose two astronauts for the recreation mission, Russell said. Previous space experience isn’t required, but candidates must be U.S. citizens, have logged at least 1,500 hours piloting high performance aircraft, hold a current FAA medical certificate and commercial pilot certificate with instrument rating.
And, to fit into the tiny Mercury capsule, he or she must be no taller than 5-foot-11.
Applicants should send a one-page biography outlining their personal history and flight experience, and a one-page, “Why I should be selected” letter or essay to Americans in Orbit-50 Years, 8215 Madison Blvd., Suite 130, Madison AL. 35758