THE JOHN GLENN STORY

[Music] oh [Music] [Applause] the countdown is once again underway at Cape canaval for the attempt to launch Astronaut John Glenn into orbits around the world reporting to the British Broadcasting Corporation in London the zero hour for Colonel G la [Music] [Music] friend and Report the astronaut's condition as excellent Colonel Glenn at Cape canaval and then astronaut Glenn will weather Still Remains the big question mark But the countdown for John Glenn the countdown is again underway [Applause] [Applause] [Music] with the entire world as our witness the countdown begins at Cape canavero Florida for one of man's greatest [Applause] Adventures it begins here with these men for they are the launch Team and from now until the instant of flight the fate of today's Mission rests principally upon their skills and judgments the countdown is their master plan and they proceed through its ritual with unhurried deliberation its Pages contain the timetable of order they must follow to awaken a giant machine to test its Readiness and to prime it for the one supreme moment for which it was created now Mets 19 Vol 12 stand bound now meter reads 11.5 6 isolated minute after minute paage page upon page the count continues and in the night Beyond this Block House a modified Air Force Atlas rocket now hums with Restless energy beneath a Mercury spacecraft as these men Usher it toward its final minutes on Earth today is February 20th 1962 and today if all goes well the men here will launch an American astronaut into orbit around the world in a spacecraft which he has named friendship s [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] friendship 7 awaits its pilot and the pilot has waited three years for this day three long arduous years of study of training of waiting and now he's ready his name is John [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Glenn Astronaut John Glenn of new conquer Ohio Lieutenant Colonel United States Marine Corps married father of two teenage children Glenn has been a pilot over half of his 40 years has flown in two Wars and as a veteran test pilot who 5 years earlier established a transcontinental flight record as the first man to average supersonic speeds Across America he volunteered for space flight is one of Seven astronauts selected for project Mercury the man in space program directed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration two teammates have pioneered the way into space for Glenn astronauts Alan Shepard and Virgil Grom tested the Mercury spacecraft on trailblazing suborbital missions proving the equipment and pushing the program to the threshold of orbital [Applause] flight and now it's Glen's turn ready for pressurization now to Glenn Falls the challenge of man's next Advance into space for he has been chosen to cross the threshold gained by Shepherd and Grom and to orbit the work so the countdown continues for John Glenn and it continues Beyond this room for friendship 7 and it continues this moment around the world [Music] these are John Glenn's groundbased co-pilots men he knows well with whom he's trained and in whose judgment his life is usted this day world they are the flight controllers and from the Mercury control center within view of the launch complex they make the decisions issue the commands that will govern the course of the mission to these men throughout the flight will flood the facts needed for decision the scope of their responsibility of the entire operation defies comprehension now this very instance the countdown for flight continues around the world on three continents on Islands in ships and PLS in lands where it's summer and tomorrow is near in lands where it's winter and this day is just beginning Roger how about you recover recover go Roger recovery uh Roger CTC marker control sir [Music] go nor east of Cape canabal 1,000 mi into the Atlantic dawn's early light spills over the British Crown Colony of Bermuda and Station 2 in the Mercury Network proceeds with the countdown the tracking and Telemetry stations 18 and all form an Avenue of electronic checkpoints around the world to Monitor and communicate with friendship 7 as it passes overhead okay this is Bermuda okay this is Bermuda if radar is the eyes of the station then Telemetry is the ears each second Telemetry will hear and record nearly 2,000 items of information radio down from Friendship 7 and in the months to come engine and scientists will find in Telemetry records the answers needed for the boulder space explorations of the future displays and Recorders have been calibrated Roger thank you FL this ISO go ahead all sub system status green brino understand all systems green latitude 5° north longitude 10° West a spot in the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Africa and station three the rosenut Waits under the late morning sun for John Glenn operating out of Trinidad Rose notot will communicate with friendship 7 and monitor its Journey as it streaks across the empty ocean and out over Africa operation this is Bridge we're proceeding at slow speed at about 5 knots the course is 1 198 through over [Applause] [Music] beyond the Mercury station on Grand Canary Island in the Spanish archipelago off of the African Coast it's midday at station 5 in cono Nigeria deep in the continent of Africa flight data recorded here at cono and at Zanzibar on Africa's East Coast will relay through this transmitting station to London and then onto [Applause] America far to the southeast of Koo beyond the Zanzibar station the ship's Bell of the coastal senty tolls the Twilight of day in The Emptiness of the Indian [Music] Ocean to the East some 2,500 M from the coastal Cent DUS blankets the Network's eth station at mé near P Western Australia Halfway Around The World from Cape canab they print out display okay that's fine let just uh tweaker up on [Applause] here today February 20th is fast fading over the Australian tracking sites at mé and WRA and when Glenn arrives tomorrow will'll greet him but north and east across the Pacific far beyond the Mercury station on the coral at called Canton Island February 20th is just minutes old on Hawaii's Garden Island of kawaii and there men prepare for the arrival of friendship 7 s and ready for 165 check all Roger the is good how Roger Eastward again deeper into the day that will soon awaken over the Americas Eastward to the Gulf of California and to the Mercury station at wus Mexico real good just waiting for Lift Off motm status green proceeding with prepass calibrations north of Mexico in the pre-dawn along the west coast of the United States The Mountaintop station at Point arello California Waits out the long countdown ready to track John Glenn all right Roger ra what is the present count All Roger Southeast now to the farmlands of Texas where the station at Corpus Christy continues its preparations for flight Texas please Roger all systems would you please commence pre-flight calibrations at this time since the countdown is progressing normally advise me when you have completed [Music] them far to the North and east of Corpus Christi beats the heart of the worldwide Mercury Network the Computing and Communication Center that bonds it into a working entity this is the Gard space flight center in Green Belt Maryland through here funnels the voice and teletype Communications that link the global stations to Mercury control the computers enable men to reach judgments within the flashes of time allowed for control of a spacecraft that moves faster than a brain can react throughout the flight the computers will generate recommendations on whether the mission should continue or be aborted they will determine locations of the spacecraft the time it should begin re-entry the point at which it will land and the most vital of these findings will be transmitted instantaneously to Cape canaberal around the world all is ready the men the stations the space vehicle and now reporters learn from the astronauts information officer if the most vital of all elements is ready the man himself John Glenn [Music] [Applause] [Music] la [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] what are the thoughts of a man about to Rocket into history Glenn is the astronaut the man who will challenge space but he is just one member of an international scientific Endeavor that requires the genius and skills of some 40,000 other men and women scattered throughout the world from the engineers and technicians who produce the space vehicle to the crews now preparing to launch it from the tracking experts who will chart his voyage around the globe to the sailors now waiting at Sea to recover him behind this day stands years of preparation of research and testing of planning and training and the purpose of it all is knowledge knowledge of space and of how effectively man and spacecraft can function together in its hostile environment knowledge that will serve as the basis for space explorations of the future hard one knowledge of benefit to all men bought by sacrifice and death dedication and [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] courage now just a handful of minutes remain until the spacecraft crew on the service Tower call for the pilot of friendship 7 [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] w [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] Roger P leader if you want the astronaut already you can proceed with insertion oh Roger okay uh John you ready [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Applause] it's not on that's [Applause] one okay I'll [Applause] [Music] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] the sound of John Glenn's life his heartbeat you here will flow from Friendship 7 throughout the flight informing those on the ground how well he endures the trials ahead into the soft light of this Florida Dawn merges friendship 7 making its debut to the day of its [Applause] Destiny the Mercury Atlas stands alone waiting to depart this Earth a quarter of a million PB of rocket with thrust equal to 3 and2 million horsepower all to hurdle a 168 lb astronaut into [Music] space all stations Gantry is in launch position AMR CNS band beacons are on start interrogation in one minute the countdown sweeps closer to the moment of flight and Recovery teams here at the cape and around the world ready themselves to Aid the astronaut Above All Else John Glenn's safety is Paramount the dictating factor in all planning never in all of history have so many people shared without censorship an adventure of such magnitude through all news media in all languages all the peoples of the world are witness to this exploration of space to its success or [Applause] failure T Min has 15 minutes Mark T minus 15 minutes and Counting there will be no smoking and a blockout until further notice okay this is from go ahead we just Lo on our computer stand by for an estimate Roger standing by Bermuda estimate 5 minutes okay 5 minutes you want us to continue to count iest you take it down to tus 7 we'll uh we may have it by then [Applause] Roger you want us to hold Bermuda um we would like to hold at seven and rerun a beast them uh we lost our main power on the computer and we just want to check that nothing else has gone wrong what do you estimate somewhere between 5 and 10 minutes okay can't you expedite make it 5 all stations are holding at 6 minutes and 30 seconds estimate 5 [Applause] minutes we just got to go you're ready are you ready to continue okay go ahead go ahead k your attention please on my Mark we will pick up the count at T-minus 6 minutes and 30 seconds in [Music] counting the time nears and soon this Earth path indicator in the capsule will begin showing John Glenn his changing position positions above the world Mark 57 seconds standby to start Epi on my mark Roger - 32 one Mark Roger Epi is 45 is 40 stus check pressurization Rock stanking have a blinking high level you are go Water Systems range operations Mercury capsule go all pre-art P lights are correct the ready light is on eject Mercury umbilical oil evacuate Mercury umbilical clear Mercury lights on all records too fast T minus 18 seconds and counting engine start the be with you good Lord ride all way got speed John Glenn 10 9 8 7 6 5 3 [Music] [Music] 20 seconds Roger 3 2 1 Mar Roger backup clock is started 102 101 oxygen 78 100 amps 27 run loud and clear fight path is good [Applause] [Music] [Music] 6-9 60 seconds 65 and still looks real good from here 70 seconds leaving a nice vapor trail now looks real [Music] five looks good back G's got it 80 Seconds and looks real good from here [Music] 85 90 95 lame p is bellowing out now in K is go we're standing by for you right here keep is go and I am go our capsule is in good shape steel 103 102 oxygen 781 100 cabin pressure holding steady at 58 amps is 26 all systems are go Roger 20 seconds to seo seo sustainer and cut off the moment when the final Atlas engine will shut down when friendship 7 should separate from the booster rocket and begin orbital [Applause] flight go a great fired [Applause] okay Rogers AO J and I feel fine capsule is turning around oh that view is [Music] tremendous to John Glenn now belongs an awesome Panorama the world curving beneath him just as it was filmed from an earlier Mercury capsule and I could see the booster during turn around just a couple of hundred yards behind me it was beautiful [Music] [Applause] Roger seven you have a go at least seven orbits Roger understand go for at least seven orbits this a friendship seven I can see clear back a big cloud pattern way back across toward the cape beautiful sight [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] Roger still reading loud and clear next transmission Bermuda Roger understand next transmission [Applause] [Music] Bermuda 7A hat [Music] you R here Premier to standby this is friendship 7 fuel 10311 oxygen 78 100 this is very comfortable at z g I have uh nothing but very fine feeling it just feels uh very normal and very good all right your friendship s how does he look Bermuda looks real good K uh surgeon reports everything okay all systems okay good voice contact both ways Roger uh friendship 7 anything to report on control system checks not yet everything appears to be going okay I'm now on the ya part of the check off right on schedule very good very good so far is excellent very good no problems at all so far on control all Roger friendship 7 us Bermuda you're cutting out on UHF if you read go to HF going friendship 7 Bermuda capc on [Applause] HF friendship seven friendship seven friendship 7 I read you very weak give me status on control system check please [Applause] 7ish is Capcom uh read you this is friendship 7 Horizon is a brilliant blue there I have the uh mainland in sight at present time coming up on the scope have beautiful view of the African Coast both in the scope and out the window out the window is by far the best view a part of the canaries was hidden by clouds I can see dust storms down there blowing across the desert a lot of dust is difficult to see the ground in some areas [Applause] over me over friendship s this is cono Capcom I read you loud and clear how do you read me over Roger K loud and clear uh Roger loud and clear uh what is your status over this is friendship 7 my status is excellent I feel fine over uh Roger I monitored part of your transmission over Canary and heard your comments on the weather over Africa we've had Dusty weather here and uh as far as we can see a lot of this part of Africa is covered with dust so this exactly the way it looks for up here too uh Roger will you give us a status report over right this is spr 7 fuel 9098 oxygen 7 8 100 cabin pressure holding 56 at present time and preferring to take zos till at present time uh Roger do you want to stand by for retro sequence time area one Charlie Roger going back on ascf y check okay it's a little different display than I had really anticipated but it checked okay and I can pick up uh uh to be about uh friendship 7 you are fading rapidly across Africa races friendship 7 at 17545 mph 300 M a minute four miles for every heartbeat of John [Music] Glenn friendship 7 streaks through the night of tomorrow and races toward the dawn of yesterday above the Indian Ocean flashes friendship 7 far beyond human sight seen only by the electronic instruments of the coastal Century as she records the lightning passage of the man in space [Music] for John Glenn The Familiar time references of Earth no longer apply for he Journeys around our world in just 88 Minutes outracing the Sun that needs 24 hours to circle the same globe friendship 7 friendship 7 this is mus com take friendship 7 this is M cont overo M cont this is friendship 7 reading you loud and clear how me uh Roger friendship 7 Capcom over Roger how you doing Gordo we're doing real fine up here everything is going very well over very good John you sound good Roger sure a short day time passes rapidly huh yes sir all right shortly you may observe some lights down there you want to take a check on them out to your ride over Roger I'm all set to see if I can't uh get them in sight uh Roger uh any symptoms of vertigo or nausey at all over negative no symptoms whatsoever I feel fine over good show all Roger I do have uh a light in sight on the ground over uh Roger understand just off to your right there that's affirmative just to my right I can see a big pattern of Lights apparently right on the coast uh I can see the outline of a town and a very bright light just to the south of it Roger that's B and Rockingham you're seeing there Roger the lights show up very well and thank everybody for turning them on will you Roger sure well John [Music] H Wess friendship 7 on UHF do you receive over Roger friendship s loud and clear over Roger this is friendship s loud and clear with you also uh are we still go from control center over Roger will still go Roger friendship all systems are going the Cel friendship seven grimus if uh you have a chance could you give us a blood pressure check over Roger friendship 7 will give blood pressure check I still have some of these particles that I cannot identify coming around the capsule occasionally over uh Roger how big are these particles over uh very small I indicate they're of the order of a 16th of an inch or smaller uh they drift by the window and I can see them against the dark sky uh just as at just at Sunrise there were literally thousands of them they looked like just a myriad of stars [Music] over l l loss of signal wus has lost contact and friendship 7 streaks home an unseen darting across the land of origin clear over can contad clear stand by please Roger Roger stilling you Roger this is friendship sship 7 for to capc Roger this is friendship 7 I'm controlling fly by present time I have no left jaw low thrust minor trouble aboard friendship 7 a malfunction in the automatic control system was causing the spacecraft to yaw in skid likee fashion away from its proper flight attitude but Glenn is overriding the faulty system and now manually controls friendship 7 on flyby wire directing its movements by hand control much like a pilot flies a plane fly by wire at time friendship 7 this is C Capcom standing by friendship s we have a Telemetry solid and check all your systems out okay uh we will remind you to start pre- Dark Side checklist as soon as you lose contact with us friendship s friendship s friendship s this is M comp friendship s this is M comp do read over okay this is rship seven friendship s m Capcom will you confirm that your Landing bag switch is in the off position over that is affirmative Landing bag switch is in the center off position All Roger you haven't had any banging noises or anything of this type higher R they wanted it mask behind that routine report the first hint of potential disaster it came when astronaut Cooper relayed a request from Mercury control asking Glen to check the status lights for the capsule's landing impact bag Glen reports status normal but ground stations are now receiving an ominous chilling signal an indication that the heat shield on friendship 7 seems to have come loose friendship s Hawaii haai friendship friendship s this is White Cap uh do you still consider yourself go for the next orbit affirmative go for the next orbit Roger understand it MCC confirms that they are go at the present time for third orbit friendship 7 friendship 7 this is California com Tech California com Tech do you read over H California loud clear Roger friendship California cap ra loud clear John Roger much better now W you're very good John the AR meds are real happy with you you look real good up there all right fine glad everything's working out I feel real good W no problems at all good show we're real pleased to let you goodbye this time we'll see you next time around this is mercury control we now have a contact with our wus Mexico station and with the Corpus Christie Texas tracking station the Friendship 7 spacecraft is now committed to its third orbit this is mercury control in Mercury control at Cape canabal a decision must be made and soon the signal pulsing down from Friendship 7 indicates still that the heat shield is loose could the signal be erroneous there is no way to tell but if it's true then John Glenn could perish in a searing Inferno when he plunges back into the atmosphere the Retro rockets that slow the spacecraft and head it back toward Earth are strapped over the shield if they were left on after retr fire instead of being jettisoned as in Normal reent then their straps might hold the shield in place before they burn off they might possibly save Glenn from the 3,000 de of re-entry heat until he's deep enough into the atmosphere for its Force to hold the shield in place but the decision must be made soon even now Glenn is streaking toward the United States and he must begin the Retro sequence 300 Mi west of California if he's to land in the planned recovery area 700 M south and east of Florida we'll give you the countdown uh for retr sequence time John you're looking good Roger we only have 5 Seconds to retrograde over that's airm I'll give you a mark of 45 Mark California California this is Cap flight go ahead K flight uh we'd like to leave the package on at least through Texas so keep tell him to keep his retro jettison switch off uh John leave your retro pack on through your Passover Texas 20 seconds right [Applause] [Music] [Applause] here 5 4 3 2 one Roger Retros are firing oh Roger baby are they ever it feels like I'm going back toward a away don't do do you want to go on the East Coast right your fire retro light is green Roger Roger Retros have stopped keep your retro pack on until you pass Texas that's affirmative real good looking flight from what we've seen yes sir looks good Wally we'll see you back East all right boy Texas Capcom cap flight go ahead cap FL go ahead uh we have decided to re-enter with the pack off this is Texas 7 we are recommending that you leave the Retro package on through the entire re-entry this means that you will have to override the 05g switch which is expected to occur at 0 4 43 3 this also means that you will have to manually retract the scope can you read uh this is friendship 7 what is the reason for this do you have any reason over not at this time this is the Judgment of gate flight Roger say again your instructions please over we are recommending that the Retro package not I say again not be jettison this the usage you will have to override the 05g switch which is expected to occur at 04 4353 this is approximately 4 and 1/2 minutes from now this also means that you will have to retract the scope manually do you understand I Roger understand I will have to make a manual uh 05g entry when it occurs and bring the scope in uh manually is that affirm that is affirmative friendship 7 All Roger go ahead k s i you and at this time all right you're retracting scope manually uh while you're doing that we're not sure whether or not your Landing bag has deployed uh we feel it's far safer to reenter with the Retro package on uh we see no difficulty at this time in that type of re-entry Over All Roger understand s escap the weather in the recovery area is excellent wav only one cility Roger friendship [Applause] seven go ahead keep you're ground you're going out I [Applause] retro pack upon reaching one to one and a half G do you understand over s this is transmitting blind all contact with John Glenn and friendship 7 is [Applause] lost uh this is friendship seven I think the pack just let go uh friendship s this is to your this friendship seven a real Fireball outside transmitting [Applause] blind friendship seven over uh seven this is Cape do you read over the furnace-like heat of re-entry has created a barrier of ionization around friendship 7 all voice [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] communication alone he plunges back toward Earth a fiery [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] meteorite okay Prin [Music] over friendship 7 this is do you over Yellow Cap friendship 7 do your reive over the thickening atmosphere breaks his descent slowing friendship 7 from 17,500 mph to 1,300 mph in slightly over 3 minutes and the forces of gravity Slam against John Glenn until he weighs eight times his normal weight [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] okay friendship 7D receive [Applause] over uh 7 this is Cape transmitting blind your IP is within one mile of the uprange Destroyer voice call is steelhead steelhead is the code name for the Destroyer Noah waiting to recover friendship 7 but John Glenn cannot hear the message right around 443 flight I was about on time keep talking now friendship s this is G [Applause] over how you read over all right you're reading a loud and clear how you doing my condition is good but that was a real Fireball boy I had great chunks of that thr pack breaking off all the way through good it did break off is that correct the rer altim off the P indicating 80,000 clear rocking quite a bit I may still have some of that pack on I can't damp it either [Applause] [Applause] TR TI seven going to Dro early it's Rocky first Dro came out Dro is out Roger Dro came out at 30,000 and about a 90 degre y Roger dring on Roger drove looks good rer scope did not come out right you're pumping the scope out dig again [Applause] Roger re-entry checklist complete standing by for m at [Applause] P coming down on 10 snorkles are open rer open Roger main shoot is on green shoot is out in reach condition at 10,800 F in beautiful shoot shoot looks good on O2 emergency and the shoot looks very good rate of descend has gone to about 42 ft per second the shoot looks very good hello Mercury Mery recovery this is friendship 7 de receive Mercury friendship s this is steel loud and clear right here steel head friendship seven the shoot looks very good [Music] [Applause] over home is the Voyager behind a jour of 81,000 M through 3 days and 3 nights in Just 4 hours and 56 minutes at 3:04 p.m. Eastern Standard Time friendship 7 comes to rest aboard the United States Destroyer Noah and John Glenn returns to the people of Earth a change of clothes a breath of cool air a short de briefing then Glenn leaves the Noah heading for the aircraft carrier Randolph under the golden Splender of his fourth Sunset of the day [Applause] [Music] la [Applause] [Music] [Applause] his name John herel Glenn Jr Lieutenant Colonel United States Marine Corps married father of two teenage children today John Glenn and the Mercury Team Challenge space and they won [Applause] [Music] [Applause] l [Music] [Applause] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] today John Glenn dared space other brave men will follow tomorrow and in the tomorrows after that each step more bold as we reach out to explore the universe around us [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] oh [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music]