CLICK & DOUBLE CLICK: INTERNET PROVIDES FRONT-ROW SEAT TO GLENN'S HISTORIC RETURN TO SPACE (COLUMN 111)

Space ... the final frontier. It has certainly been in the news this week as 77-year-old astronaut John Glenn plans his return to space Thursday on the Shuttle Discovery. There are numerous sites on the Internet that are following this historic shuttle flight, which launches at 1 p.m. Thursday from Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Of course, that's if the weather cooperates. If Hurricane Mitch has his way, the launch could be delayed.

Today, Mark Bliss is our guest surfer -- filling in for Peggy Scott who trekked off on a family reunion.

Mark: You can learn more about Glenn at the NASA Shuttle Web site.

shuttle.nasa.gov/sts-95/crew/glenn.html

Joni: You can learn more about Glenn's first trip into space 35 years ago. Then, he strapped himself into a 9-by-7-foot capsule, atop an experimental rocket and became the first American to orbit the Earth.

Mark: You've got to be a little nuts for that kind of job.

Joni: The Ohio senator is going into space to study the effects of space flight on older people. The previous oldest astronaut was 61.

Mark: I always wanted to travel when I retired, but I'm not sure that's what I had in mind.

Joni: He will be in space nearly nine days and travel 3.6 million miles. This should be a boom for his frequent flier miles.

Mark: There is a link off the Web site that compares his Mercury flight to his Discovery flight, item for item.

Joni: You can also learn more about Ohio's famous senator at his home page.

www.senate.gov/(tilde)glenn

Mark: You can read about his political career, Ohio and space. The latter two are not the same thing.

Joni: Under the space portion, you can find out that he got picked for the job back in January. He thinks it's important to find out about old people in space because by 2030 Americans older than 65 will exceed 69 million, which is more than double its current figure.

Mark: That includes us. Do they plan to ship us into space when we reach retirement age?

Joni: Presumably, we have to be in shape for this kind of flight. Glenn looks pretty good for an older American.

Mark: Ever wonder what astronauts eat in space?

Joni: You can go to the Family Education Network to find out the answer. Click on the special feature, John Glenn Blasts Off. For breakfast, he is going to eat scrambled eggs and grits.

familyeducation.com

Mark: The eggs sound good, but I'd just as soon pass on the grits.

Joni: But the astronauts also will dine on peanut butter and jelly, barbecue beef and candy-coated peanuts, among many other things.

Mark: Some of it is fresh food, some of it is rehydrated.

Joni: Glenn's first flight included all items served the consistency of baby food, all stuffed into a kind of toothpaste tube. Yum.

Mark: There is also a quiz you can take for kids. Among the questions, what will Glenn take on his historic flight? Is it a lucky rabbit's foot, a piece of a plane piloted by the Wright Brothers or his original space suit?

Joni: It took me three tries to guess this one. He is taking a swatch of fabric from the original Wright Brothers' plane. Glenn says they were really the first astronauts because they were the first ones to explore above the surface of the Earth. Since then, it has just been a matter of going higher and faster.

Mark: The Web site also has resources for parents and kids to learn more about space travel. There's lots of good links.

Joni: You can hear Glenn's speech after being the first American to orbit the Earth. You can find it on the History Channel.

www.historychannel.com/gsspeech/speeches/980301gs.html

Mark: Glenn said, "My flight was but one step." That is neat that you can listen to remarks made decades ago. The speech is not quite 3 minutes in length. You can hear it using RealPlayer technology. He said these words in New York City during a gigantic ticker-tape parade.

Joni: The History Channel has a lot of historic speeches in its archives, which lets you hear the words that changed the world. There are more astronauts on there. You can hear Neil Armstrong say, "That's one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind." Or for something more down to Earth, you can her Amelia Earhart explain: "The future of flying is filled with promise."

Mark: She may have disappeared, but her voice lives on.

Joni: Another place to learn the latest on Glenn's voyage is a site called Space Views.

www.spaceviews.com/features/glenn/index.html

Mark: You can find a countdown clock and news like the fact that Bill Clinton will be the first president in 30 years to attend a manned launch.

Joni: That's sure to send us into orbit.

Mark: At this site, you can take a poll on whether Glenn should be on the flight. Eighty-two percent agree he should be on the flight.

Joni: Probably one of the best sites, chocked full of information, video and sounds can be found at CNN.

cnn.com/SPECIALS/space/glenn

Mark: You can keep up-to-date on the threatening hurricane. You can also view lots of video and audio pertaining to the current flight and Glenn's last trip to space. You can even take advantage of technology that allows you to sit in the shuttle cockpit and take a 360-degree look around.

Joni: I like the comment of John Glenn's daughter when she first heard he was angling to be the oldest man in space. Lyn Glenn replied, "What? You're kidding." That's probably what I'd say if my dad announced something like that.

Mark: You can also connect to a number of sites that will broadcast the launch live. These Webcasts are also planning a number of pre-launch interviews and chats that you can participate in live, via the Internet.

Joni: You can easily click off to NASA TV for your front row seat to this historic event. What's your favorite space site? E-mail us at click@semissourian.com

See you in Cyberspace.

Joni Adams is the managing editor and a member of the Southeast Missourian online staff. Mark Bliss reports on government and politics for the Southeast Missourian.