The Final Frontier

Most boomers recall the dawning of the U.S. space program with national pride and patriotic aplomb. Yet many of us were too young to be fully aware that we had entered a Space Race with the Soviet Union. The facts were, we weren’t the first into space, and we were getting further behind.

The Soviets had a great deal of success in the late 50s and early 60s. They were the first to launch a satellite into orbit (Sputnik 1, in 1957). That prompted a response from the newly-minted National Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) in the form of Explorer 1 in 1958 — and the Space Race was on.

NASA had announced an ambitious program of launching a man into space and ultimately orbiting the Earth. Thus, the Mercury Program was established (1958-63). Seven “astronauts,” as the U.S. spacemen were to be called, were chosen from among military pilots to participate in the program.

But the Soviets beat them to it, launching Yuri Gagarin (the Soviets named their spacemen “cosmonauts”) into orbit and safely back to Earth on April 12, 1961 (Vostok 1). One month later, Alan Shephard became the first American into space (on board Freedom 7). His mission, however, amounted to little more than a slingshot into space and a fall back to Earth — there was no attempt at an orbit yet.

The U.S., feeling the growing embarrassment of “second place,” responded through the president of the United States. In April of 1961, the Bay of Pigs fiasco in Cuba pretty much started the Cold War, according to some historians. Now the Space Race was going to enter the political maelstrom. On May 25, 1961, President Kennedy gave a speech before a Joint Session of Congress in which he laid down to NASA the challenge of sending a man to moon and back again. As if that weren’t a daunting enough challenge for a team that had yet to send a man into orbit, Kennedy set a deadline on the program — the end of the decade.

Building on the success of Alan Shepherd’s Mercury mission, NASA launched Gus Grissom into space in July of 1961. His was another preliminary mission — there would be no attempt yet at establishing an orbit around the Earth. It wasn’t until February of 1962 that the U.S. sent Astronaut John Glenn into Earth orbit aboard the Friendship 7 — a full nine months after the Soviets had completed the feat.

That same year, 1962, was an important one in boomer musical history. The communications satellite Telstar 1 was launched into orbit. Composer Joe Meek immortalized the moment with an instrumental song every boomer can recognize. “Telstar” was originally recorded by The Tornadoes. It went to number one in the U.K., and was the first single by a British band to ever hit the U.S. Billboard Top 100. Then in 1963, it was covered by The Ventures, perhaps the version most boomers will recognize.

John Glenn enters the Friendship 7 capsule. Photo courtesy of NASA.
John Glenn enters the Friendship 7 capsule on Feb. 20, 1962. Astronauts were allowed to name their own crafts in the Mercury Program. Each had chosen to use the number 7 in their naming structure to reflect that they -- the original seven astronauts -- were a team. Photo courtesy of NASA.

Mister Boomer remembers being in grade school during the Mercury missions. A black & white TV sitting on an AV cart was wheeled into the classroom every time there was a launch. A second class of students was ushered in to sit on the floor between the desk rows, faces turned to the TV. Then, along with our nun teachers, we quietly sat in awe as we witnessed the historic events unfold, as they happened.

The Friendship 7 launch holds a special, particular place in Mister B’s memory banks. The summer after the successful mission, Mister Boomer’s family hopped into the car to visit Washington, D.C. The family visited the monuments, U.S. Treasury, sat in on a session of the House of Representatives for a few minutes, and visited the White House. Impressive, memorable visits for a young child, to be sure. But none could capture the imagination as much as a visit to the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. There, Mister Boomer saw the Friendship 7 capsule — the same one he had seen in the launch, on TV. Looking like an inverted top, it sat on a platform, with wooden stairs leading directly to it. Walking up the stairs, visitors could not only touch the louvered exterior of the capsule, but peer inside through the small window. There, a mannequin astronaut in full gear was visible in the one-man pilot seat. This surprised and frightened the young Mister B at first, but then he was struck by the incredibly tiny and tight space John Glenn had inside his capsule. Walking down the stairs, Mister Boomer noticed the charred exterior of the spacecraft. The pattern of re-entry had left a visible trail in blackened flames. He couldn’t resist running a finger over the darkened side, only to find there was no charcoal-char residue at all. It was completely burnt into the metal, a permanent testimony to the day.

For Mister Boomer, that was it. He followed every space mission, as many boomers did, up to the moon landing in July of 1969 and beyond. With President Kennedy’s challenge met, the U.S. had overtaken the Soviets in the Space Race. And boomers had stories that stirred images of the final frontier that today’s generation can’t even fathom. We were there at the beginning, boomers!

What great memories of the space program do you have? Do you still have a copy of “Telstar”? Is it by The Tornadoes or The Ventures?

Boomers Can Now Say, “When I Was Your Age…”

We’ve all heard it: Growing up, our parents and grandparents would never miss an opportunity to remind us “how good we had it” compared to when they were growing up. Now it’s our turn.

When we look back at the tremendous hardships, coupled with enormous lifestyle changes and technological advances experienced by the preceding two generations after World War II, they did indeed bear witness to amazing times. But looking at the past fifty years that chronicle the growing of the boomer generation, we can say no less about our times. The social and political upheaval of our youth was rivaled only by the technological marvels that evolved to pave the way for the next generations.

So, the next time your grandchildren — or children — ask you about what it was like when you were growing up, here are a few common things that are now taken for granted that our families just did not have when we were young children, because they either hadn’t been invented yet, or were not popularized until we were well into our teens and twenties.

Boomers did NOT have:

Cell Phones (not commercially sold until 1983)

Touch-Tone Phones (slowly replaced the rotary dial when introduced in 1963)

Anything related to Personal Computers (PC not popularized until the 1980s)

Internet (not commercially popular until the mid 1990s)

Master Card/Visa credit cards (Diners Club was the first credit card, introduced in 1950, but MC and Visa weren’t popularized until the mid 70s)

Microwave Ovens (invented in 1946 but not popular in the home until the mid 70s)

Garbage Disposal Units (on the market in 1938 but took until the 1970s to become readily accepted by municipalities and available to consumers)

Plastic Garbage Cans (steel cans ruled; we kept them until they rusted out through the bottom)

Plastic Garbage Bags (not popularized until the late 1960s)

Disposable Diapers (not commercially available until the late 1960s)

Automatic Dishwashers (not common in households until the 1970s)

Non-Dairy Creamer (first introduced in 1961)

Cuisinart Food Processor (available in 1973)

Heart Transplants (first in 1969)

MRI (Magnetic Resonance Imaging — first in 1977)

Rollerblades (introduced in 1979)

Instant Noodles (introduced in 1971)

VCR (introduced in 1971; DVD players weren’t around until the 1990s; and forget about TiVO)

Karaoke (introduced in 1971)

Jacuzzi (whirlpool popularized in the mid 70s)

Here are some things we DID have. While some are still around, others have been relegated to the dustbin of history:

Slinky (invented in 1943)

Lincoln Logs (invented in 1916)

Erector Set (invented in 1911)

Silly Putty (invented in 1943)

Frisbee (introduced in 1948)

Portable Transistor Radio (popularized around 1954)

Etch A Sketch (introduced in 1960)

Tupperware (the famous seal was invented in 1947)

Polaroid Camera (on the market in 1948)

The ‘Pill’ (approved by the FDA in 1960 — for boomer moms, of course)

Music Cassette (first introduced 1n 1962, but popularized in the 1970s)

Roller Skates (around for hundreds of years)

How about it, boomers? What did you have as a child that your children or grandchildren didn’t?