TRIP TO WASHINGTON: UNION STATION
Union Station
Washington, D.C.
Photo by John White (2011)
Washington, D.C. (JFK+50) During our recent visit to the nation's capital, we took the metro to Union Station located on Massachusetts Avenue NE, just a short walk to the Capitol.
Union Station, designed by architects Daniel Burnham & Pierce Anderson, opened on October 27, 1907.
Today the station, which houses 130 stores & a food court, is described as "the most visited destination in Washington, D.C." 25 million people visit each year.
Lunch at Union Station
Washington, D.C.
Photos by John White (2011)
Union Station serves Amtrak, MARC & the Virginia Railway Express as well as the Washington Metro System. The station underwent renovation from 1981-1989.
Train Schedules at Union Station
Washington, D.C.
Photo by John White (2011)
October 3, 1962
WALLY SCHIRRA SPLASHES DOWN IN PACIFIC AFTER SIX ORBITS
Wally Schirra
Gemini 6 Flight Test
Cape Kennedy, Florida
NASA Photo (1965)
Cape Canaveral, Florida (JFK+50) US astronaut Wally Schirra (Sheer-rah) orbited the Earth 6 times today during a 10 hour flight & safely splashed down in the Pacific Ocean.
Once aboard the USS Kearsarge, Schirra received a call from President Kennedy. He said to JFK:
"The spacecraft did everything I wanted it to do & I was able to accomplish everything I wanted...during the flight."*
*Shirra is the only astronaut to fly on all 3 of our 1st space programs: Mercury, Gemini & Apollo.
October 3, 1967
WOODY GUTHRIE, GODFATHER OF FOLK MUSIC, DIES IN NEW YORK
Woody Guthrie
Library of Congress Photo (1943)
Queens, New York (JFK+50) Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie, the godfather of 1950s folk music, died today at Creedmore Center here in Queens, New York.
The 55 year old singer-songwriter was under treatment of Huntington's Disease, a progressive genetic neurological disorder.
Guthrie was born on July 14, 1912 in Okemah, Oklahoma.
His most famous folk song, written in the 1940s, is "This Land Is Your Land".
"This land is your land
This land is my land
From California
To the New York island
From the redwood forest
To the gulf stream waters
This land was made
For you & me."
The song was written in 1940 in response to Guthrie's dislike for Irving Berlin's "God Bless America".
Guthrie once said: "I am out to sing the songs that make you take pride in yourself & in your work."*
*Bob Dylan was inspired by Woody Guthrie & visited him regularly during his long illness.
October 3, 1990
GERMANS CELEBRATE "UNITY DAY"
Berlin, Germany (JFK+50) The people of Germany are celebrating "Unity Day" today. For the 1st time since it was divided at the end of WWII, Germany is one nation.
"Unity Day" is to be a national public holiday in Germany.
*2 months later, German elections will be held & Helmut Kohl will become the 1st chancellor of a unified Germany.
Unity Day Celebration
At the Reichstag in Berlin
October 3, 1990
Photo by Peer Grimm
German Federal Archive
October 3, 1952
BRITISH EXPLODE NUCLEAR BOMB
British Nuclear Blast
October 3, 1952
Monte Bello Island, Australia (JFK+50) Great Britain became the 3rd nation to have nuclear capability today as it successfully exploded a nuclear bomb off the coast of Monte Bello Island off the northwest coast of Australia.
The Brits have been working on the atomic bomb project, named "Operation Hurricane", since 1947.
This particular bomb, rated at 25 kilatons, was detonated in the hull of the frigate HMS Plym.
October 3, 1942
GERMANS FIRE V-2 ROCKET
Replica of a V2 Rocket
Peenemunde Museum
Photo by A Elfwine (2004)
Berlin, Germany (JFK+50) The Germans have successfully fired a V-2 rocket from Peenemunde, an island off Germany's Baltic coast.
The V-2 traveled a distance of 118 miles.
Scientists have been working on development of the V2 since the 1930s. The project was led by Wernher Von Braun.
The advantages of the V2 over the earlier V1 rocket is that it can be fired from a portable launch pad, can reach a speed of 4000 mph, & is virtually impossible to detect or intercept.*
*The 1st V2s were fired at Paris on September 6, 1944. More than 3000 were launched during WWII resulting in thousands of deaths. The rockets were built at Mittelwerk by prisoners of the Mittelbau-Dora concentration camp.
Von Braun, a decorated Nazi war hero, was brought to the US after his surrender to work on US Army ballistic missiles. He became director of the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama on July 1, 1960.
Von Braun was the chief architect of the Saturn V rocket which took American astronauts into space & to the moon.
Von Braun & JFK
Redstone Arsenal
Huntsville, Alabama
May 19, 1963
NASA Photo
