Major Matt Mason

There were empires to build and it did not take long for wooden blocks and plastic trains to give way to G.I. Joe.  I had several, but that is another story.  Along came another empire - Space!

As a kid, I guess I always knew that we were 'in space' without always understanding where we were in space. President Kennedy had already told us we were going to the Moon before the decade was out, but it took two cousins to help me understand.

Doris and Rita are older than me.  They taught me how to ride a bike.  That's important.  They also ate the same cereal I ate.  Also important.  To promote their involvement with the Space Program, one of the major cereal companies - I don't recall which - included a plastic, coin-like token that had a picture of one of the Mercury Seven astronauts pasted on one side and the name of their Mercury space-capsule on the other. I had one or two; they had all of them and a plastic, two dimensional cut-out to display them on.  I was impressed.

I remember eating a bowl of this cereal on May 5, 1961, when the first Mercury was to be launched.  Dad had brought the television to the table, no small feat in those days, so we could watch as Alan Shepard was launched into space.  We waited and waited, and nothing happened.  Dad went to work and I looked around for other things to do as Mom began her morning house cleaning ritual.  When NASA finally launched Shepard into space, the flight lasted 15 minutes and 28 seconds before 'splash-down' and recovery by the Navy carrier USS Lake Champlain.  I always thought space would be bigger...

Then there was something that Dad sent away to get for me.  Each month a book came in the mail, but the BIG thing I was most interested in was models of the Mercury and Gemini spacecraft.  Every so often a case came along to store the little Space Program books.  I was now a part of the Space Program and I could ride a bike.  Life was good.

As Christmas approached in 1966, Mattel began advertising a new line of toys - Major Matt Mason.  I lived to see the commercials to the exclusion of whatever show was on.  With my birthday on the horizon, I could not wait because I was sure I would get a Major Matt Mason and the Flying Backpack and the Space Sled.  I didn't. Another toy company had produced a cheap knock-off version and Mom and Dad decided that they would try this out to see if I was really interested...  aw come on folks.  I WANTED MATT MASON!

I still have my Major Matt Mason, the lunar space station, and a lot of good memories.

I have run into so many people who have been inspired by Major Matt Mason and the Space Program.  It was a real hope and a real dream of my generation that we would be a space-faring people.  On December 19, 1972, Apollo 17 splashed down in the Pacific Ocean and was recovered by the USS Ticonderoga. We have not been back to the Moon.  Major Matt Mason had already vacated the toy shelves and Mattel had removed him from their line.  America's interests had become internally centered.  There has never been another Major Matt Mason; there has never been so much interest in space.  I am reminded of a quote I heard from an astronaut that goes something like this,

'Single planet species will not survive...'