Forty years ago, astronauts John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra and Gordon Cooper launched the United States into a new era of human adventure — orbital space flight. Their bravery lead to Americans walking on the Moon and the construction of two space stations, including the International Space Station (ISS) in orbit today.
Space Adventures, Ltd., the only company to have taken private individuals to the ISS, will pay tribute to the four Mercury astronauts as a sponsor of the anniversary celebration at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor’s Complex this Sunday.
Special events will take place throughout the day and evening of February 24, 2002, including the dedication of the newly reopened Rocket Garden with Glenn, Carpenter, Schirra, and Cooper in attendance. Beginning at 5:30 p.m., the Visitor Complex will host “An Evening with the Mercury Astronauts” at the Apollo/Saturn V Center, featuring a sit-down buffet dinner, special video presentation and remarks by the astronauts.
To mark this historic milestone, Space Adventures, Ltd. has funded the creation of commemorative medallions, minted in part from metal taken from Cape Canaveral Air Station Pad 14 (the launch site of the Mercury-Atlas orbital flights) to be distributed to attendees of the evening gala.
About Space Adventures
Space Adventures, Ltd., the world’s leading space tourism company, offers a wide range of space experiences, from zero-gravity and high-altitude supersonic flights, cosmonaut training and space flight qualification programs on Earth, to actual flights into space. Space Adventures, Ltd. has provided clients like Dennis Tito and Mark Shuttleworth with the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to fly to the International Space Station. With offices in Arlington, Va. and Moscow, Russia, Space Adventures is developing a U.S.-based spaceport from which passenger sub-orbital space flights will begin operations before 2005. For more information about Space Adventures, Ltd. visit www.spaceadventures.com or call 1-888-85-SPACE or 1-703-524-7172.
