TECH

Space pros: John Glenn had the 'real right stuff'

James Dean
FLORIDA TODAY

Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana was 13 when he watched John Glenn become the first American to orbit Earth in 1962.

“John epitomized what it was to be a Marine, a pilot, and an astronaut, and he was one of my heroes,” Cabana, a four-time shuttle astronaut, said in a statement Thursday.

Glenn was “truly in his element” when at age 77 he returned to the astronaut office to fly a space shuttle mission in 1998, Cabana remembered.

“He had always wanted to fly in space again,” Cabana said. “He was the consummate professional, a leader of the highest caliber, and a genuinely nice man.”

Several Space Coast residents who worked in the early space program shared similar memories of Glenn as special person and leader who stood out in an elite peer group.

Lee Solid, an engineer who worked on Atlas rocket engines for the Atlas rocket that launched Glenn’s first flight, said Glenn was not only brilliant and talented, but also extremely gracious and thankful to the team supporting him.

“What he did in service for his country, both in the military and in the space program, and later on in the Senate, that speaks for itself,” said Solid, 80, of Merritt Island. “He’s an American hero, and he’s an icon. There isn’t anybody that ever met him and worked with him that didn’t like him.”

John Tribe, another engineer who worked on Glenn's 1962 mission, helped host Glenn and his family on a tour of Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station that celebrated the flight's 50th anniversary.

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“He was, as always, the ultimate gentleman,” said Tribe, 80, of Merritt Island. “Very knowledgeable, very sincere. He gave many speeches as we walked around in different places, and they were all extemporaneous and different. I had the greatest respect for him and really enjoyed my time with him. He truly was a national hero.”

Bob Sieck, a retired shuttle launch director, joined NASA two years after Glenn’s first flight but came to regard him as one of the nation's two finest astronauts, along with Neil Armstrong.

“He was one of those guys that you just knew that person has character and integrity, substance, all of those features that we all wish we had more of,” said Sieck, 78, of Viera. “But he had it. That’s the real right stuff to me. He had the real right stuff.”

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com. And follow on Twitter at @flatoday_jdean and on Facebook at facebook.com/jamesdeanspace.