Mercury Redstone #7

Haha, great quote.

Great shot, great story.

Good morning, Ron;

Nice photograph. I recognize the RHCP helix antenna in the foreground. Without going out and looking it up again, I am trying to remember when Allen Shephard did that. I know that it was right around 1960. I actually thought that the date would be included in the details.

I actually don't remember the date, but it was not 1960, probably 61 or 62. I havae my 1962 calendar with all dates and comments. It was a nice desk thingy with lots of pizazz to it. Nice official looking booklet.

They took many shots with the helix antenna in the foreground. It was one of the favorite "props".

As for the quote, that came from a comedy routine of the time by Jose Jimenez who first used the crayon bit. Someone used it over the PA, but it was deleted from official recordings. It may have even been the astronaut, but IDK.

PE

Alan Shepard flew May 5, 1961. I don't think this is launch day but a similar bank of cumulus
clouds on the horizon is visible in the photos looking south on May 5. This view is looking SE.