John 'Shorty' Powers

He is portrayed by actor Danny Strong in the Disney+ series “The Right Stuff” (2020), based on the book of the same title by Tom Wolfe.

He appears in Season One, Episode Three of the alt-historical 2019 TV series For All Mankind.

He is referenced in the 1988 cult film, Miracle Mile, by actor Kurt Fuller when, as Soviet warheads appear over Los Angeles, a drug-addled, panicked character in the movie yells, "Talk me down, Shorty Powers".

He served as mission commentator for the six manned Mercury flights, introducing "A-OK" into the American vocabulary to signify procedures during the missions had proceeded as planned. He claimed astronaut Alan Shepard first used the expression during his Freedom 7 flight, but communication transcripts later showed he had not. In his 1979 book The Right Stuff, Tom Wolfe wrote that Powers had borrowed it "from NASA engineers who used it during radio transmission tests because the sharper sound of A cut through the static better than O".

Way Out (1966), The Day the Earth Froze (1959) and Airwolf (1984).

Powers was married three times and was the father of three children. He married Sara Kay McSherry, women's editor of the Indianapolis News, on August 7, 1965.

Manned Spacecraft Center Director Robert Gilruth announced Powers' reassignment on July 26, 1963, reportedly following a dispute with NASA Headquarters over handling publicity for the final Mercury flight. Powers objected to the HQ decision to release the mission's 22-orbit flight plan in advance. He was succeeded by Paul Haney on September 1, and Powers soon resigned.

Powers' experience with public affairs caught the attention of the newly formed NASA, and he was detailed to NASA's Space Task Group in April 1959 as its public affairs officer at the request of T. Keith Glennan, NASA's first administrator. Very early on April 12, 1961, John G. Warner, a UPI rewrite-man in Washington, D.C., roused Powers from sleep at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia seeking comment on the flight of Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space. Powers replied, in part, "We're all asleep down here," which made headlines.

Following Korea, Powers bounced around the Air Force, helping establish the first Community Relations Program in 1955. After being assigned to the personal staff of Maj. Gen. Bernard Schriever with the Air Research Development Command in Los Angeles, he handled the public dissemination of information related to the Air Force's ballistic missile program.

Powers left the service in January 1947; but was recalled to active duty in December 1948 and flew as part of the Berlin Airlift, making 185 round-trip flights. He later volunteered for the Korean War. He flew 55 night missions in B-26 bombers with the 13th Bombardment Squadron and received the Bronze Star Medal, the Air Medal, the Distinguished Flying Cross and a combat promotion to Major.

John 'Shorty' Powers was born on August 30, 1922 in Toledo, Ohio, USA as John Anthony Powers. He was an actor, known for Way. . .