Remembering the Space Age. - Black Vault Radio Network (BVRN)

354 reMeMberINg the SpaCe age
NASA’s original Mercury 7 astronauts posing with a U.S. Air Force F-106B jet aircraft
in 1959. These astronauts epitomized the perceived “American exceptionalism”
that was considered to be such an intrinsic part of the national character. From
left to right: M. Scott Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, John H. Glenn, Jr., Virgil I. “Gus”
Grissom, Jr., Walter M. “Wally” Schirra, Jr., Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and Donald K. “Deke”
Slayton. (NASA)
space program a close tie to all manner of nefarious activities. this last narrative
emphasizes conspiracy theories—of extraterrestrial visitation, abduction,
and government complicity, of denials of the apollo Moon landings in favor
of a deep-seated conspiracy, as part of a larger militarization scheme aimed at
world domination, and a host of strange and bewildering conspiracies afecting
the lives of normal americans in negative ways. each of these narratives has a
place in the american consciousness as it remembers the Space age. this essay
will seek to discuss these four narratives and how they have interrelated over
the 50 years of the Space age.