A Friendship 7 memorial flight in 2012

The Americans In Orbit - 50 Years project hopes to commemorate John Glenn's famous flight to orbit by launching a Falcon 9 on February 20, 2012 with an astronaut in an "an improved Mercury capsule" : Americans in Orbit-50 Years Inc., A Non-Profit Organization, Announces Its Plan to Re-Create The Flight of the First American to Orbit - Americans in Orbit-50 Years Inc./Prnewswire - Jan.18.08.

Seems terribly ambitious to build and test a new capsule in four years with only donated money and volunteers. I would rather they simply campaign for a launch on that date of the Falcon 9/Dragon combo to the ISS or a Bigelow habitat and to send along a plaque or some other item related to the Mercury flight.

Posted 01/18/08 | 23:45:42 by TopSpacer | Filed under: NewSpace

Comments

Use the money offer a human orbital prize to push the future forward in Glenn's name instead of recreating the past.

Posted by jblow at 01/19/08 01:25:37

At that point, just contract with SpaceX to paint the outside of a Dragon to look like a big Gemini. No human needs to go up in a capsule that has not carried cargo 10-15 times.

Posted by Neil at 01/19/08 08:16:09

This reminds me of the Simposns where Homer was discussing Apollo Creed, you know, Apollo Creed, the guy who built his own rocket and flew to the moon!

Posted by Mike Puckett at 01/19/08 13:26:08

Maybe those people want to enjoy the technical challenge of building and flying in their own capsule rather than just throwing money at someone else.

Posted by anon at 01/19/08 15:15:43

It would also send a message that spaceflight is doable if these people actually accomplished going into orbit on nothing but volunteer labor and donations.

Posted by anon at 01/19/08 15:17:41

What a waste of resources.

Bundy has Spoken!

Posted by Buck.Bundy at 01/20/08 16:40:16

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