Smithsonian Curator Revisits "The Right Stuff" Feb. 19

Presentation on eve of 50th anniversary of first orbital U.S. spaceflight

SEATTLE, Feb. 9, 2012--On the eve of the 50th anniversary of astronaut John Glenn's historic orbital flight, historian Roger Launius' Feb. 19 presentation at the Museum will reconsider the Project Mercury space program and the individuals who carried it out. It will relate the origins and execution of this first attempt to reach into space and its meaning five decades later. Launius is senior curator in the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. The program will be at 2 p.m. and is free with admission to the Museum.

In 1979 author Tom Wolfe redefined the public persona of the first astronauts in his bestselling book, "The Right Stuff." His story spanned the period from early high-speed flight immediately after World War II to the end of America's first human spaceflight program, Project Mercury. Launius will shed some new light on the men who were said to have "the right stuff." John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth on Feb. 21, 1962

Roger D. Launius

Roger D. Launius is senior curator in the Division of Space History at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. Between 1990 and 2002 he served as chief historian of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Launius has written or edited more than twenty books on aerospace history, including "Smithsonian Atlas of Space Exploration"; "Robots in Space: Technology, Evolution, and Interplanetary Travel"; and "Space Stations: Base Camps to the Stars." He served as a consultant to the space shuttle Columbia Accident Investigation Board in 2003 and is frequently a commentator on National Public Radio and all the major television network

news programs.

The Museum of Flight is an Affiliate of the Smithsonian Institution.

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