Category Archives: Project Mercury

Chasing the Moon – PBS

Posted on April 13, 2021 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“The most harrowing moment in the new three-part PBS series Chasing the Moon, about the race to the Moon in the 1960s, happens on Earth, in the suburban home of astronaut Frank Borman, near the Manned Spacecraft Center south of … Continue reading →

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The Things We Knew Then: Vivid Then, Fading Now?

Posted on August 28, 2020 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“1. James Forman was a. ’68 Olympic heavyweight champion b. national director of the Congress of Racial Equality c. a Czechoslovakian film director d. executive secretary of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee 2. In Easy Rider, Peter Fonda, Dennis Hopper, … Continue reading →

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Katherine Johnson

Posted on February 25, 2020 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“Katherine Johnson (born Creola Katherine Coleman; August 26, 1918 – February 24, 2020), also known as Katherine Goble, was an American mathematician whose calculations of orbital mechanics as a NASA employee were critical to the success of the first and … Continue reading →

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Earthrise

Posted on November 16, 2019 by 1960s: Days of Rage

The Earth rises into view over the lunar horizon for the astronauts aboard Apollo 8 in 1968. “No one told them to look for the Earth. It was Christmas Eve 1968 and the first manned mission to the moon had … Continue reading →

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NASA Enlists Andy Warhol, Annie Leibovitz, Norman Rockwell & 350 Other Artists to Visually Document America’s Space Program

Posted on August 9, 2019 by 1960s: Days of Rage

Moonwalk – Andy Warhol (1987) “It’s hard to imagine that the space-crazed general public needed any help getting worked up about astronauts and NASA in the early 60s. Perhaps the wild popularity of space-related imagery is in part what motivated NASA … Continue reading →

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How Stanley Kubrick Staged the Moon Landing

Posted on July 18, 2019 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“Have you ever met a person who’s been on the moon? There are only four of them left. Within a decade or so, the last will be dead and that astonishing feat will pass from living memory into history, which, … Continue reading →

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Apollo 11

Posted on May 22, 2019 by 1960s: Days of Rage

“Apollo 11 was the spaceflight that landed the first two people on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin, both American, landed the Apollo Lunar Module Eagle on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC. Armstrong became … Continue reading →

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How Tom Wolfe Became … Tom Wolfe

Posted on April 9, 2019 by 1960s: Days of Rage

Wolfe, by Irving Penn, in 1966. The writer had already become “the object of a cult.” “I was 11 or maybe 12 years old when I discovered my parents’ bookshelves. They’d been invisible right up to the moment someone or … Continue reading →

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5 surprising things that 1960s TV changed

Posted on March 2, 2019 by 1960s: Days of Rage

By 1960, television was firmly entrenched as America’s new hearth. Close to 90% of households had a TV, making the device almost ubiquitous. The ensuing decade would see the medium grow in both importance and range. “… And oh yeah, … Continue reading →

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Soviet space program

Posted on February 14, 2019 by 1960s: Days of Rage

Communists pave the way to the stars. The Soviet miniature sheet of 1964 displaying six historical firsts of the Soviet space program. “The Soviet space program (Russian: Космическая программа СССР, Kosmicheskaya programma SSSR) comprised several of the rocket and space … Continue reading →

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