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1 | He illustrated many of NASA's manned space flights, including the first Mercury mission with Alan Shepard. He did not attend a launch until Mercury 9 in May 1963, with Gordon Cooper aboard. He was present at over 25 subsequent launches, including most of the Moon shots and space shuttle missions. |
2 | His freelance work for Life magazine on the future of space exploration got the attention of NASA. In 1962, NASA approached three artists to help promote its mission; McCall was one. Andrew Wyeth was another, but he declined. |
3 | Early in his career, he did illustrations for ads and magazine articles, including science fiction in pulp magazines. |
4 | He served as a bombardier instructor in the Army Air Force during WWII. |
5 | As a child, he loved looking at the craters of the Moon through a backyard telescope. |