Fifty years ago today, on 5 May 1961, the U.S. launched its first manned spacecraft, Freedom 7, piloted by Alan B. Shepard, Jr. (1923-1998). Shepard's successful 15-minute ballistic trajectory mission inaugurated NASA's Project Mercury, and the era of U.S. manned space flight, which led to NASA Projects Gemini and Apollo, and the lunar missions of 1969 through 1972. Shepard went on to explore the moon on the Apollo 14 mission in 1971.
There are those who attempt to ascribe U.S. technological prowess to its use of traditional measurement units, and thereby argue that we should not metricate because of such a myth. I think that, more realistically, it is our quest for technological success and advancement that made our space program possible, and that same thirst for advancement should move us to change over to the single SI measurement standard, a change not for one generation, but for all future generations of Americans. Indeed, uniform global measurement commerce and communication will enable the whole world to embark, perhaps as a project involving many nations, on journeys of space discovery and colonization. What better way to honor the memory of America's first courageous space traveler? Paul R. Trusten Registered Pharmacist Vice President and Public Relations Director U.S. Metric Association, Inc. www.metric.org [email protected] +1(432)528-7724
