I grew up next to mission control and many of my neighbors and friends' parents were involved in Mission Control and/or Astronauts or both. Oddly, in the middle of nowhere Texas - Clear Lake. This gave me some interesting run-ins with cosmonauts, astronauts, physicists etc. I was lucky enough to meet John Glenn on 3 separate occasions. The first time, I discussed Plutonium 238 and my worries for satellite power given decommissioning of mission critical battery fodder for satellites on earth. The second time, the viability of a colorblind astronaut.(I have deuteranopia and he explained to me the structure of the consoles and the switching costs of changing out colors and the follow on risk/reward of color confusion).
The third time, how we could keep more funding for NASA scale projects without having to keep offices in 50 different states for political pressure. He said he could go on for hours about this. All 3 times, he was sharp, inspiring, and a pleasure to be around. Today, humanity has lost the Lee Iacocca of Space. One of my favorite quotes by him that I think is incredibly relevant right now: 'The most important thing we can do is inspire young minds and to advance the kind of science, math and technology education that will help youngsters take us to the next phase of space travel.' John Glenn was one of my boyhood heroes. Microsoft Powerpoint 2013 Portable here. I remember as a young boy listening to reports of him taking off and making those three orbits of the earth.
