i mean, that's not john keats or elizabeth barrett browning or that whole earlier generation.i mean, how do you explain that? >> by the time that plath and robert lowell and anne sexton were writing these poems, which was pretty much middle of the century, into the '60s and the '70s, a lot of things have happened. and first of all, we had two world wars. one to end all wars, and then a war that, you know, came after that, which was beyond human imagination in terms of its cruelty. its organized cruelty in terms of the holocaust. so a lot of these incredible ideals that we had about human nature were being battered on all sides. and also interiorly because psychoanalysts began to come up, people began to realize that we aren't even in control of who we are inside of ourselves. with all of that having occurred, by the time we hit the '50s, we're trying desperately to recover from the second world war and to say, "everything's wonderful and good and we have chevrolets and, you know, we've got all of these good things," there were poets saying, "you know, we just can't cover this

john glenn or bitted the earth. he circled the earth three times in about five hours. phil keatingape canaveral. >> the odds of john glenn coming back to earth safely and alive on that day 50 years ago was only about one in six. that's a risky launch, without a doubt. visitors here today commemorating the event, taking a lot of photos, touring the rocket garden where you see all the old rockets and tiny capsules that astronauts used to fly in preceding the u.s. space shuttle. over there is the mercury rocket that glenn went aboard, the silver one with the black capsule. within it, he helped us lead the space race. >> five, four, three, two, one, zero. >> roger, the clock is operating. we're under way. loud and clear. >> roger, we're programming it. >> keep in mind the soviets already accomplished an or by the orbit of the earth but the united states bettered it by three times around the earth. and you've got to take yourself back to those days. it was the cold war, tensions were incredibly high between the soviet union and u.s. the american spirit was well behind the space race and

space history. 50 years ago astronaut john glenn became the first american to orbit the earth. fox's phil keatingck at this important penalty in history. >> five, four, three -- important moment in history. >> five, four, three, two, one. >> roger, the clock is operating. they're on their way. >> reporter: and with that 50 years ago today astronaut john glenn orbiting earth three times before splashing down in the bahamas leading the united states to win the space race. it was a triumphant moment every american alive at the time remembers. long before space travel became routine and for glenn a historic florida morning out of the now abandoned launch complex 14 that he still thinks about all the time. >> oh, that view is tremendous! >> i was just anxious to go. i went on the 11th scheduled date. i suited up four times and once the flight was canceled because the weather when i was in the transfer van on the way to the launch pad, but i was up twice before and so it's almost hard to believe when we went to the final 18 second count and realized i was really going to go on this take 50 years ago. i

keating reports on the 50th anniversary of the first american in orbit. >> five, four, three, two, one. >> roger. we are underway. >> with that, john glenn bettered the soviet, orbiting the earth three times before splashing down in the bahamas, leaving the united states to win the space race. a triumphant moment every american alive at the time remembers. long before space travel became routine, and for glenn, historic florida morning out of the complex 14, that he still thinks about all the time. >> that view is tremendous. >> i'm anxious to go. i went on the 11th scheduled date. suited up four times. once the flight was canceled because of weather in the transfer on the way to the launch pad. up twice before. it was almost hard to believe when we went to the final 18 second count i was really going to go this day 50 year ago. great feeling. >> it continues to inspire pride for visitors to photograph themselves below the replica of the rocket. >> the teacher had us lined up in the classroom, around the the. wtv. we talked a lot about it. >> black and white tv. >> we were amazed. a big rocket going up. the fire and the smoke and e

john glenn became the first american so sucks is fully orbit the earth. thousands are flocking to the kennedy space center in honor of the historic flight. phil keatinglive. amazing amount of nostalgia there this weekend, right? >> absolutely, julie. the phrase we all heard our whole lives, godspeed john glenn, used met for i canly -- metaphorically in some stories t was echoed by scott carpenter. the rock on the left, that is the one alan shepard had flown in. not actually completing a orbit of the earth. to the right, large silver rocket is, replica of what john glenn was in the tiny little capsule. 50 years ago this is exactly what americans heard as we equalized the space race. >> five, four, three, two, one, zero. >> roger, the clock is operating. we're underway. >> loud and clear. roger. >> reporter: so many amazing aspects of that historic flight. john glenn of course became a national hero that day but nobody was really certain, all of the scientists doctors exactly what would happen to a human actually in orbit. there was some concern that the forces of gravity and g-forces would possibly explode his eyes. that never materialized. and john g

and national heros, john glen of course is the only person on the planet today, who can say 50 years ago today, i blasted off and or bitted our planet at kennedy space center phil keatingfox news. >> should government employees be allowed to bring guns to work. the legislation up for debate in virginia. >> protest as controversial abortion bills make their way through the state capital [ male announcer ] at green giant we know nature gives us the most nutritious of gifts. but only when they are ready to be given. that's why green giant picks vegetables at their peak. ...and freezes them fast, locking in nutrients ...for you to unwrap. ♪ ho, ho, ho. green giant those five food groups sound a whole lot better when you put them in a taco shell instead of a pyramid. old el paso. when you gotta have mexican. and enjoying it less and less? stop paying for second best. upgrade to verizon fios and get tv, internet and phone for an incredible price: just $89.99 a month for two years with a two-year agreement. it's an amazing deal, but it's for a limited time only. so don't wait. want to save even more? call right now and we'll add a special bonus: $300 back. unlike cable, fios

keating is at ksc for us tonight. hey, phil. >> hi, shep. welcome to february 20th, 1962. this is the actual mission control which the mercury team helped monitor the velocity of john glenn.a national triumph. flight director stood here. cap come talked to glen right here. and over there on the big wall, take a look at this low tech scene. little black space craft, that is actually a replica of mercury, slowly inch along the wall. believe it or not, this was state of the art at the time, but it worked putting john glenn into space beating the soviets. keep in mind this the shiite of the cold war tension between the soviet union and the united states peeking at the time soviet beast beat nasa with the first orbit around the world. 10 months later mercury team and glen successfully bettered that and eventually won the space race. there was a time period where some of those early flights brought us back and sort of looking at ourselves differently and into the american psyche. i'm glad we could have some impact. >> everyone at the time, of course, oh they were very vividly remembering. this over the weekend surviving members of the mercury team all of these men in their 70s

keating is live from the ken die space center with the story. >> reporter: the soviets beat the united states into orbit but ten months later john glenn became aational hero. here at the rocket garden inside the kennedy space center's visitor's complex this is where a lot of photographs are i can taken today. it is a momentous day. these are all the rockets of different sizes and shapes that were launched in the 60s and 70s. and the tall silver one with the black capsule, that little capsule is what john glenn road in and everybody who was alive 50 years ago remembered exactly how it sounded as we equalized the space race. >> and so now we have to contract with the russians, unseemly though it may be for the world's greatest space faring nation, and because of the recession we haven't had money to reverse that shuttle decision that was made back in 04. i think it's too bad. >> reporter: that is reality right now. nasa announcing just recently it hopes to do a test flight of the o'ryan zap saoul that would be eventually the six astronaut replacement to the space shuttle. joining me now is elaine deshane from ross chester new hampshire who was 1