THE WORLD WAS THERE

a shower of glory for a new American Hero and after the last hurrah a nation's right to know the full account examples no no let's stay right with it mommy play with it alright ready to go to Cronkite then you ready Sam by water okay you're on weather good astronauts and good shape tracking systems around the world astronaut Gordon Cooper the man that will be at the controls of the spacecraft in the u.s. sixth attempt of manned space flight was awakened this morning at 250 to 500 a.m. what you're about to see is a demonstration in action of an open society and a free press [Music] [Applause] to the legion of men who photographed it the story of Project Mercury was told in the realm of the frozen image the story began in Washington at a press conference in 1959 it was a Jules Verne kind of a story a story that became a national goal front page news a focus for our scientific and creative energy [Music] their base of the replicape became one of the prized date lines and journalism downrange from the Cape south of Bermuda the recovery forces stood ready which is one ingredient of the fuel most of the preliminary work has been done here by now we await the arrival of astronaut Shepard radio and television carried the event as it happened [Applause] for depth and interpretation there was the printed page we had time to pause to wonder at this new age what would it bring an astronaut and a president with a wonderfully warm and ready with again expressed my congratulations to Alan Shepard we're very proud of him and I speak on behalf of the vice president who is chairman of our space Council and who bears great responsibilities in this field the members of the House and Senate Space Committee who are with us today and this decoration which has gone from the ground up yeah astronaut Gus Grissom was successfully launched today at 7:20 a.m. in the top that you hear there's a man's own exact yes you hear the town of its voters and intent angel after welcome on deck a personal message later Grissom's report to the press probably already heard you are getting a cast all the water he couldn't lift it you ran into an engine problem or at least what they think now is an engine problem and couldn't lift it free there were three helicopters there I guess actually there were four I remember seeing three and I was sort of in the center of all three of them and couldn't get to any of them Marine chopper pilot did get in and get in close enough for me to get hold of sling and then everything was pretty good with knees and then on the take me around up and brought me on the Randolph [Music] the Cape Canaveral any Kadapa world trade with the litany of the compound but John Glenn was not dwarven this then for the applicants vehicle we are not able at this time to get a specific identification on what the problem is we know simply that we do have some problems over there team three control once more the countdown is underway at Cape Canaveral even at this hour clusters of people are stopping to check on the latest radio control once more the world waited we have just completed a status check in the mercury control center they've been advised at this time [Music] another Air Force doctor they walked over to the van which would take them out to pad 16 at 425 he began crawling into his space suit when says he is the last man to shake hands with the astronauts and to smile at the monkey now around the world all mercury stations reported in a gold let's go now to Ed Williams at the best night over 500 years been here on the theme today the covered [Applause] [Applause] all their eyes were focused on the rocket they were excited they been here are many weeks waiting for this because of the delays but when it came was exactly as everyone had planned it was an exciting thing to watch him this is way they thought of their reporting right now there is special equipment has been installed here at the press site for them to tell their story to the world to their own newspapers and for their some radio stations from latin america that are here [Music] [Music] he is reported to be a hale and hearty astronaut after having successfully flown the united states first manned orbital flight u.s. astronaut John Brennan is on the deck is reported to be a hale and hearty astronaut after his history-making flight [Music] raesha at the white house on this wet and chilly day in February we haven't produced very hospitable weather for our hero John Glenn today but the crowds are here they've been waiting two hours now the rain was much worse an hour ago when he arrived he's been there he is now on the North Portico getting ready to ride to the capital with Vice President Johnson that's the son the daughter Annie Glenn's in red Vice President Johnson will ride with him [Applause] [Music] the book reported be with the sign welcome Johnny screams children everywhere but with his breaking news down here [Music] [Applause] today I know that I seem to be standing alone on this great platform just as I seem to be alone in the cockpit of the friendship 7 spacecraft but I'm not there were with me then and with me now thousands of Americans and many hundreds of citizens of many countries around the world who contributed to this truly international undertaking voluntarily and in a spirit of cooperation and understanding on behalf of all those people I would like to express my and their heartfelt thanks for the honors you have bestowed upon us here today we are all proud to have been privileged to be part of this effort to represent our country as we have as our knowledge of this universe in which we live increases may God grant us the wisdom and guidance to use it wisely [Applause] [Music] everything went well and then a cliffhanger the capsule overshot the expected landing area communication failed for 35 minutes there was no word a post flight examination astronaut scott Carpenter returns to the cable to his family to the joys and cares of the earthbound even a daughter's skinned elbow [Music] right now the gantry is being pulled back from the bird the big silver Atlas rocket will be standing right in front of us about one mile in front of our mutual Canaveral Operations Center the gantry is slowly moving away now news men from all over the world have gathered here today to cover this the fifth u.s. manned space flight the third orbital flight [Music] now in his space capsule high above the earth the engines fired right on schedule that burns off just beautifully as any fight you never want to see within minutes story and pictures were transmitted by the wire services they appeared on page one of the daily newspapers of the world Lowell innocence pays well I sure ah might have some feelings along that line if he weren't so busy now and his Sigma 7 capsule so right now he's powered down on the fourth orbit that is drifting flight out of communication with earth one of the important tests of this particular six orbital flight will be the photographing of cloud covers and some of the land [Applause] [Applause] this is the Mercury News Center the contact point for news men staffed around the clock by NASA information officer here questions are answered interviews are arranged news briefings press conferences take place astronaut Cooper 22 orbit mission will take them over more than 100 countries islands and possession in order to cover every phase of Project Mercury the press wire services TV and radio networks pull their resources and personnel [Music] America's sixth man venture into space Gordon Cooper has just left hangar and he's smiling at the crowd of technicians that is gathered he looks extremely confident about today's flight this is ed Williams at the press site at the beehive of activity this morning as the big gantry was just pulled back the thousands of reporters hundreds of reporters here on the press are getting ready to report systems a-okay and Gordo himself is reported as very up for the flight to give you an idea of how mercury control looked at it here's a report just received from an the press site about 5,000 feet from the launch area here news men photographers feature and technical writers are witness to success or possible failure [Music] reporters newsmen from all over the world approximately how many foreign countries are represented today we have about 25 countries represented here we go NATO group came in our drink up cause the last agonizing minutes of the countdown march quad television brings the nation to the scene and drops them right in the middle of it will be with another t-minus 40 seconds now and Counting all systems go videotape come in we want all of this hold on to it the log it later stay with the pool here she goes I stand by watering she goes ready okay keep going [Music] alright fell off is often the analysis on and we're on all right here I'm sandy at this point the capsule and the booster are on will called automatic sequencing this has rectory control we have a momentary hold at t-minus 19 seconds that's not an unexpected horde exists which shall be picked up almost t-minus 15 seconds and counting nine eight seven six five four three he should be getting vibration now now the pitch over vibrations going for Gober down in just about reaching max Q that's maximum of vibrational dynamic pressure oxygen supply fuel supply and all onboard systems are go oh it looks like a beautiful takeoff again from Canaveral [Music] Radio keeps us right with the started as Cooper races around our planet 22 orbit mission of astronaut Gordon Cooper and now the presses of the world roll the story newspapers magazines report and death millions would read and savor the news of this day a free and open society in action [Music] good morning everyone this is Charles Hughes ABC New York with the latest news by radio we were with Cooper most of the night and we awoke early to see how his night went it was like a grand continued story in two parts with 18 chapters like a Control Center is very quickly to make sure that the instructions get delivered and that astronaut Gordon Cooper understands them now a short while ago can clinic site manager for Project Mercury and dbrainard Holmes director of the NASA Space Agency held a briefing for newsmen at Cape Canaveral moments ago we learned of the first problem to develop in the flight it came to light during the Passover Hawaii John Chancellor here mercury control on the air let's go right away at this time that the inverters which supply electrical power to his attitude control system that is the automatic attitude control system both inoperative both the primary and the alternate this means that he will have to perform the entire epsilonkl firing and re-entry operation either fly-by-wire or man he'll proportional control [Music] before the who has been estimated to be 3 to 4 miles away you have to say stuff is on the water out here for hours per night 700 yards from the spacecraft 700 yards adopters are circulating the swimmers that is the underwater swimmers are going into the water they will have what we call the stool compiler but as that big yellow [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] and the news coverage continues as a man is reunited with his wife and daughters and the 50th state shows its appreciation the way it knows how [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Applause] Herbert combo again at Patrick Air Force Base are the big Air Force jet carrying Gordon Cooper is slowing to a stop on the taxiway guys straining to catch a glimpse of the astronaut 122 orbits hundreds of people gathered behind ropes use men photographers waiting for the moment when gardania's widest epidermis is Gordon Cooper followed by their daughters [Music] basin around the Air Force Commander and other dignitaries will strain can catch these bombers an astronaut himself all smiles as he goes more that they are see them convertible for the inevitable ride and the claim on this instance [Music] I think if those of you they know me I know that I've always spoken honestly and straightforward to you I'm Hindu so today I'll run through the flight plan very briefly factually and when we get the questions I will honestly try and answer any questions you have to ask if I can't answer them if I don't answer them it's because I don't know the answer or we don't have the data yet to fully answer them and they will be answered at a later date but I was not real overly tired I was warm from the re-entry and having been on the water for a short period of time but I might add not any warmer than I am right now and I think at this point I'll lay it open questions live where you would all impressed with this mission and at any time were you at all concerned for your personal safety well I've waited quite a long while for this flight and I was very impressed with it I think anybody that goes up on a space flight and says they already impressed there must be something wrong with him I named my spacecraft faith 7 for three reasons one because of a belief in God and country - because of a loyalty to organization the two organizations actually which I belong and three because of a confidence in the entire space team dig is a thought that one of these gentlemen sitting with you will be making the first Gemini flight or do you think one of the seven will make it first there will be other launches and other press conferences when they happen they will be fully reported [Music] even now the gantries of gemenese stand ready when men once again ride an American spacecraft into orbit at the mercy of God and thousands of technicians the world once more will be there [Music]