John Glenn – Most Amazing Invention Ever

What do you believe to be the most amazing invention ever in America? My pick for me, there is no doubt, the most amazing invention ever in America is when we sent those first men to the moon. Think about it. They put these three guys into a big metal can and they blow them up with a highly powerful explosive. But instead of being blown into a million pieces – instead they are shot up through the air out of our atmosphere and into space traveling 1000s of miles per hour – Amazing!

It was on July 24, 1969, as hundreds of millions of people around America and the world watched and listened and prayed, that the smaller metal can broke off from the bigger can and landed on the moon without crashing. The astronauts had traveled over 238,000 miles from Earth, and they landed safely on the moon.

But that wasn’t all – they got out of that metal can wearing heat and cold resistant suits. They walked around, gathered up rocks and samples – they even played golf. And then they got back into that metal can, blew themselves back off the moon, hooked back up with the other metal can, traveled all the way back to the earth, and actually hit their return mark and safely parachuted that metal can back down to our Earth. Absolutely amazing! I can’t think of any invention at any time in history that is more amazing.

But there’s one other space story here I must share with you. In 1962, long before we sent our first men to the moon, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in space. Now one can only imagine all the tests and retest and issues that NASA had to settle before shooting Glenn into space. But as the men and women at NASA were working to ready for takeoff, John Glenn had another concern. Although NASA was reasonably confident that they could control where he landed after his flight, no one knew for absolutely sure. Even though planes and helicopters would immediately rush to his landing site, he was told it could take as long as 72 hours to actually find and rescue him.

Now that’s three days, and astronaut John Glenn thought “what would happen if he landed in some undeveloped part of the world where people still lived primitively, they look out and see this big parachute with a little capsule on the end floating to the ground, and then a creature in a silver suit steps out of the craft?” The natives could be very afraid, and perhaps they could do him bodily harm.

So, what did John Glenn do? True story. He took with him a short speech translated into several languages so that hopefully no matter where he landed anywhere in the world, he could communicate with whomever he encountered. And what did the message say? Here are the actual words in that message. He said, “I am a stranger, I come in peace. Take me to your leader and there will be a massive reward for you in eternity”. We have no way of knowing what would have happened if that note had to be used by John Glenn because he landed right on his mark, and he was safely rescued.

Wow, what a crazy story – but true! I’m Jerry Stewart – watch for more coming.

I am a story teller. Since 1998, I have been telling the true stories of our nation and those Americans gone before us.  To say the least, these stories have been well received by Americans, both young and old.  So, here’s where the stories have taken me.  In 1998, I was broadcasting my stories on just one radio station in Washington State.  Today, from Texas 15 years later, these programs are now broadcast through a syndicated radio network to over 400 radio stations all across America, with literally millions of listeners.