We've Soared in 50 Years!

Fifty years ago on this day, John Glenn rocketed into space on the Mercury space flight aboard Friendship 7. His five-hour flight took him around the world three times before returning safely back to earth. Fifty years seems a long time ago, but considering that Glenn had no computers on board for that first trip into space, and the ubiquity of computers and cell phones and so on today -- it may seem even longer. That trip was a sorely needed confidence booster for our country, which seemed to suffer a loss of self-confidence when the Soviets sent up Sputnik to take an early lead in the space race. I watched Glenn deliver a speech in 2002 in which he recalled the preparations for and flight of Friendship 7, and in his closing remarks he mentioned how essential research is to human progress. He mentioned Alexander Fleming, whose curiosity with mold led to his discovery of penicillin -- and our world and industry has been forever changed. He also mentioned a visit he made to Wernher von Braun, noted developer of rockets, and was surprised at the books he found in von Braun's study. He expected to find books on mathematics and engineering; however, he found more books on religion and philosophy. Glenn concluded that most of our great thinkers and innovators shared one quality: an intense curiosity.
Last week I delivered my first virtual lesson on the learning theory Synectics. I was fortunate to be able to work with Angela and Sue -- between the three of us, we managed to work out an effective presentation of Synectics along with a good lesson, too. I watched another NASA legend, Gene Kranz, who related the trials and tribulations of trying to get the astronauts of Apollo 13 safely back to earth after an explosion disabled the spacecraft. As Kranz related the process he and the others at NASA used to find solutions to the myriad problems to surmount, I realized the process he employed was Synectics. These problems were, like space travel itself, unfamiliar and strange, and to discover the solutions to problems -- one of which was finding a way to take a square filter and retrofit it for a round hole -- those at NASA followed the steps almost identical to find those solutions that ultimately resulted in three lives saved.
At a time when Americans may be feeling a loss of self-confidence -- with a sluggish economy, a massive, looming national debt, and other problems -- maybe we need to look back at how far we've come in just fifty years. Glenn, who became a senator from Ohio after his concluding his career as an astronaut pioneer, concluded his speech by mentioning how great a doctrine the Constitution is and the need for Americans to be active and involved in our government. While we live in problem-laden times, we also live in times of great opportunity. Like Synectics, maybe we need to just look at it a different way!