Photo of the Mercury astronauts standing beside a Convair 106-B aircraft. They are, left to right, M. Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper Jr., John H. Glenn Jr., Virgil I. Grissom, Walter M. Schirra Jr., Alan B. Shepard Jr., and Donald K. Slayton.
We met Ed Buckbee during Space Camp. What an awesome speaker! He worked with the original astronauts of the Mercury and Apollo missions. He was the PR person, for lack of a better term. He shared many of the insights about the first "space cowboys". He also became very good friends of the movers and shakers of the space program. He was the first director of the U. S. Space and Rocket Center which was the dream of Dr. Wernher von Braun (the scientist that inspired Homer Hickam!). von Braum was the most preeminent rocket engineer of the 20th century.
He share a LOT of 'secrets' of the astronauts.
* He told about how they were all test pilots and most of the had huge egos.
* They HATED the space monkeys
* All of them had sports cars and loved to drive fast except John Glen, he had a Hudson!
* The Red Stone Rocket used 5 TONS of fuel per second!
* Sheppard had a Playboy centerfold on his checklist to go to the moon!
* The potassium that some Dr. thought would be a good idea to add to Tang made the astronauts have to breath their own 'gas' in the space suits! he he he he
* Duck Tape went to the moon to repair the Moon Rover's fender
* The Rover only went 9 MPH
* Walt Disney was a huge fan and had Buckbee become a consultant for "Tomorrow Land".
* It took 400,000 people to develop the Mercury Program in EIGHT YEARS from JFK's commitment to space!
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