Godzilla vs Megalon, released March 17, 1973 in Japan, teamed up Godzilla with robot Jet Jaguar to defeat Megalon, a beetle-type monster with the Chrysler building as arms sent from the undersea nation of Seatopia.
It wasn't released in the U.S. until 1976, when a small distribution company decided to cash in on the King Kong craze (the movie with Jeff Bridges and Jessica Lange had just been released). The U.S. cover even had Godzilla and Megalon fighting on top of the World Trade Center.
Cosmonaut Vladimir Mikhaylovich Komarov, born March 16, 1927 in the Soviet Union, and astronaut R. Walt Cunningham, born March 16, 1932, are both heroes but whose stories end completely different.
Komarov, close friends with Yuri Gagarin, flew his first mission on Voskhod 1 in October 1964 with crew members Boris Yegorov and Konstantin Feoktistov. The flight lasted just over twenty four hours and its success awarded Komarov the Order of Lenin and Hero of the Soviet Union.
He was assigned to the Soyuz program to fly on Soyuz 1 April 1967. Long before the launch, Komarov knew there were major problems with the space capsule and feared that he would be killed if he flew in it. He wanted to refuse the mission, but his backup was Gagarin and Komarov did not want his friend to die.
Soyuz 1 launched April 23 and experienced problems shortly after launch. Upon re-entry, the parachutes did not deploy correctly and got tangled with the spacecraft. Komarov fell several miles to Earth. His last words were of him cursing the men who put him in a botched spacecraft.
Ronnie Walter Cunningham flew on Apollo 7, October 11, 1968 with Wally Schirra (who celebrated his birthday just a couple of days ago) and Donn Eisle. During the mission, Schirra developed a head cold and without the benefit of gravity, could not clear his sinuses. When the crew prepared for re-entry, they refused to wear their helmets. Schirra feared if he blew his nose, he might suffer a pierced ear drum.
As a result of this "mutiny" none of the Apollo 7 astronauts were assigned to future missions.
The third installment of the Gamera series, Gamera vs Gyaos, was released March 15, 1967 by Daiei Films. It introduced the Gyaos, who became a favorite adversary of Gamera, kinda like King Ghidorah to Godzilla.
It was released in the U.S. as Return of the Giant Monsters and spoofed by Joel and the Bots on Mystery Science Theatre 3000.
Frank Frederic Borman II, born March 14, 1928, is a veteran of the Gemini and Apollo programs. He flew on Gemini 7 in 1965 with James Lovell, setting a record the time of 14 days in space. They performed maneuvers with Gemini 6A bringing the spacecrafts within 1 foot of each other.
Later, he was part of the Apollo 8 crew with James Lovell and William Anders, December 1968.
As of Jon Glenn's death in December 2016, Borman is the oldest living astronaut.
Walter Marty (Wally) Schirra, Jr., born March 12, 1923, was the only person to fly
in the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs. October 23, 1962, Schirra flew on Mercury-Atlas 8, orbiting Earth six times in a little over nine hours.
His second trip was commanding Gemini 6A with Tom Stafford, December 15, 1965 when they rendezvoused with Frank Borman and James Lovell aboard Gemini 7.
Schirra became the first person to go to space three times on Apollo 7, launched October 11, 1968. He commanded the mission with Donn F. Eisele and R. Walter Cunningham. They replaced the original crew of Gus Grissom, Ed White and Roger Chaffee who perished in a fire during a ground test in the Apollo 1 capsule.
He retired from NASA after this mission. He joined Walter Cronkite as a consultant on seven Apollo missions.
Wally Schirra passed away May 3, 2007 from a heart attack he suffered during surgery for abdominal cancer.
Curtis Lee Brown, Jr., born March 11, 1956, is a veteran of six (count 'em...6!) space shuttle flights. His first was STS-47 in September 1992 aboard the Endeavor. The second was aboard the Atlantis, STS-66 in November 1994. His third was STS-77, May 1996 on the Endeavor again.
In August 1997, he commanded the Discovery on the STS-85. His fifth mission was with Senator John Glenn, STS-95 in October-November 1998 on the Discovery. His final flight was STS-103, an 8-day mission in December 1999 on...wait for it...Discovery!
One of my favorite 70's sci-fi movies, Silent Running, was released March 10, 1972. This was shortly after the EPA had been formed so environmentalism and saving the forests were huge messages in the movie. Bruce Dern stars as an astronaut on board one of several ships carrying the last of Earth's forests and plants, since our planet had become so polluted, all the flora and foliage died off.
When the order comes from Earth to destroy the bio-domes and return, Bruce takes matters into his own hands. It has some suprisingly touching scenes with Dern and the robots, Huey, Dewey and Louie, who were played by several multi-amputee actors.
Joan Baez lends her voice to the songs featured in the movie.
