September 12 in history:
“How do I love thee…?” Elizabeth Barrett showed her love for fellow poet Robert Browning by eloping with him in England on September 12th, 1846. Barrett’s father did not approve of Browning.
Astronauts Mark Lee and Jan Davis became the first married couple to travel together in space on September 12th, 1992. They were among the seven crew members aboard the shuttle Endeavour. The eight-day mission was the first space flight for Davis, and the second for Lee.
President John Kennedy’s famous speech about why “we choose to go to the moon” was delivered on this day in 1961 at Rice University in Houston…the city which would become the home of Mission Control for NASA. Kennedy’s speech came two years to the day after the USSR launched the Luna 2 spacecraft, which became the first man-made object to land on the moon.
The Gemini 11 mission was launched on this date in 1966. Astronauts Pete Conrad and Richard Gordon conducted tests to link two space capsules in orbit, a skill that would be needed on flights to the moon.
Pete Conrad was portrayed by actor Peter Scolari in an episode of the TV miniseries “From the Earth to the Moon.” Scolari, best known for his roles on “Newhart” and “Bosom Buddies,” was born September 12th of 1955.
“To the moon, Alice!” On September 12th, 1970, “The Jackie Gleason Show” ended an eight-year run on CBS. The hour-long variety show often featured musical episodes of “The Honeymooners” with Gleason as Ralph Kramden and Art Carney as Ed Norton.
Triviazoids 