ANNOUNCER: The Shirley Temple program usually seen at this time
will not be presented
in order that we may bring you the following special broadcast.
We have interrupted this program
for a special broadcast from Cape Canaveral.
RENICK: May 5th, 1961, certainly a day to be entered in the history books.
Although the astronaut launch is being seen close up
and live on television screens,
hundreds of persons traveled to Cocoa Beach to see with their own eyes
at long distance, the streak of flame as the Redstone heads skyward.
CRONKITE: I don't know any words for this except the trite ones.
Tension is mounting here at Cape Canaveral.
RENICK: The world watches with interest.
The public has no trouble feeling concern for the man who lies on his back
at the nose end of a Redstone missile.
Somehow, this doesn't seem to be the place for a human being.
GLENN: We're looking at this as eventually a big exploration.
We hope to lay the foundation
for much broader exploration in the future.
MCGEE: I'm sure you've given some thought to the possibility that
this flight may not turn out well and that you may not come back.
TROUT: One man, backed up by a team of 10,000,
backed up by the most elaborate devices that science can invent.
But still, one man, alone, in a tiny shell on top of a rocket.
When we asked NASA for some pictures of the original American astronauts,
John Glenn and the six others chosen in 1959 for Project Mercury,
look what we got.
The Seven in their spacesuits as formal as a class picture
or a management training group.
But these, too, are the men who are going to fly off into space
and catch us up with the Russians and win the Cold War
against Sputnik with their hair down and their burnouses up
after four days of survival training in the desert.
What were the astronauts?
Tall in-the-capsule superheroes or just a bunch of regular fighter jocks?
Well, writer Tom Wolfe has spent a number of years now looking into their story
and he has written it into a book called, The Right Stuff.
It's not the kind of story that we heard at the time from the space managers
and from the politicians, or even from the American press.
Tom Wolfe, nice to have you with us this morning.
-Tom, good to see you. -Uh, were we in need of heroes
when these astronauts came along?
Is that why we were so eager to build them up into kind of false gods?
Right now, it's so hard to remember what a... how seriously the Cold War
was taken back in the... in the late '50s.
(COUNTDOWN IN RUSSIAN)
(SPUTNIK LAUNCHES)
You are the first Americans to see this launching of Sputnik 1
from the desert of Kyzylkum, in the Soviet Union.
("NAME THAT TUNE" THEME MUSIC PLAYS)
DEWITT: And now back tonight and trying for 20,000 dollars are Eddie Hodges,
the ten-year-old schoolboy, and his partner, Major John Glenn, Jr.,
the Marine Corps jet pilot.
Uh, what do you think of the Russian satellite,
which is circling the earth at 18,000 miles per hour?
It's the first time anybody has ever been able to get anything out that far
in space and keep it there for any length of time.
And this is probably the first step toward space travel or moon travel,
something we'll probably run into maybe in Eddie's lifetime here at least.
DEWITT: (CHUCKLES) Eddie, would you like to take a trip to the moon?
No, sir, I like it fine right here.
(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)
REPORTER: Democrat Senator Jackson of Washington describes
the Russian achievement as a devastating blow to the prestige of The United States.
As the satellite travels around the world once every hour and a half,
its radio transmitters, powered by chemical batteries,
that are apparently sending back coded messages to the Russians.
(RAPID FREQUENCIES)
REPORTER: The White House sizes up the situation this way,
The launching of Russia's and the world's first
artificial moon is of great scientific interest but comes as no surprise.
REPORTER: General, are you awed by the Russian accomplishment
with this big Sputnik?
MEDARIS: You're only awed by the things that you don't understand
or don't believe someone can do.
REPORTER: In other words, we know what they had to know to do this?
-Certainly, we know it. -REPORTER: Why haven't we done it?
Well, we got started late.
We didn't get about the job as early as we might have.
Now we have to work like blazes to catch up.
It means they're getting ahead of us and we certainly need to...
start working hard to catch up.
I think it's about time America woke up and did something about it.
There was a sense in this country that it was all important...
to catch up with the Russians in space.
John McCormick, who was then the Speaker of the House of Representatives,
was getting up and saying we face national extinction
if we do not catch up with the Russians.
WALLACE: In desperation, the United States looked to the Vanguard.
Nearly 200 newsmen from all over the world were flown down
for the big turkey shoot.
At the launching site, they were given a play-by-play account.
They witnessed each tiny detail of the usually top-secret preparation.
And inside the block house, the tension steadily mounted.
(ROCKET BLAST)
(EXPLOSION)
WALLACE: America's prestige had never been lower than at this moment,
11:45 a.m., December 6, 1957.
There is a tremendous gap between promise and performance.
I believe the American people want action...
(EXPLOSION)
JOHNSON: ...and are demanding that we get going with our program.
Public opinion in the civilized world has grown accustomed to
fast scientific progress.
Already, the idea of Sputnik whirling through space has become accepted
and people are saying, "What comes next? What comes after Sputnik? After Vanguard?"
Well, the next step has been planned for a long time. It is a manned satellite.
WOLFE: Catch up on all fronts. That was the imperative.
So a so-called quick and dirty approach was seized upon.
They would try to launch not a flying ship
but a pod, a container, a capsule... with a man in it.
The man would not be a pilot.
He would be a human cannonball.
He would not be able to alter the course of the capsule in the slightest.
The job was assigned to NACA,
the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics,
which was converted into NASA.
We will be developing and launching into space,
vehicles needed to obtain scientific data and to explore the solar system.
N.A.S.A. will have about 300 million dollars
for its program in fiscal 1959,
and with this appropriation, we must press forward
the current research programs in our laboratories.
We must contract for work by others in such fields as electronics and guidance
and other areas where we have neither the special competence,
nor the facilities that are needed.
We must accelerate our development programs.
We must acquire the vehicles that will carry our data-gathering apparatus,
and ultimately man, into space.
The program to pick the first man to American to try to pilot
a rocket into orbit in space has begun.
U.S. space chief T. Keith Glennan announced tonight
the American manned satellite program will be called Project Mercury,
its pilots will be known as Mercury Aeronauts,
and one of their number, all volunteers,
will make the first spaceflight.
Two months before the astronauts were chosen they were still considering
using racing car drivers, mountain climbers, scuba divers,
infantry men, anybody who had faced stress and dangerous situations
successfully would be allowed to apply for astronaut
because there wasn't any flying to be done.
Finally, Eisenhower decided, "Well, hell, we've got 500 test pilots
"in the military. We can call them to Washington tomorrow."
So let's get them from this group of people we can totally control
and get on with it.
So they bring in these test pilots.
KRAMER: From all of the active duty pilots in the Navy, Marines, and Air Force,
the service records of 473 test pilots were selected for review.
110 met the basic qualifications.
The Right Stuff is both a code of behavior and a mystical belief.
As test pilots, you have to be willing to go up and hang your mortal hide out
over the edge and then have the experience and the moxie and the talent
to pull it back in, and then go up the next day
and the next day and the next day and the next day, even,
uh, the series is infinite.
(CRASH AND EXPLOSION)
NASA OFFICIAL: Phase two of the selection program
was a very thorough physical examination.
And the men continued on to the third phase.
This phase involved exposure to the acceleration, lowered pressure,
noise, and other stresses expected in space flight.
WRIGHT: At a Washington news conference, officials introduced seven carefully
chosen military test pilots as America's first spacemen.
REPORTER: How are the kids' appetites tonight?
Probably pretty good.
REPORTER: Better than usual or worse than usual?
Well, probably a little bit, uh, they'll, uh, be too excited.
Maybe they won't eat as much as they usually do.
REPORTER: Well, this is supposed to have been a very tightly kept secret.
How... how did you begin to suspect something?
Well, listening to the news.
MCCORMICK: Well, all seven of the men are officers and test pilots.
Three Air Force, three Navy, and one Marine. All are volunteers.
Doctor T. Keith Glennan, National Aeronautical
and Space administrator introduced them this afternoon at a news conference.
Which of these men will be first to orbit the Earth, I cannot tell you.
He won't know himself until the day of the flight.
It's my pleasure to introduce... to you,
and I consider it a very real honor, gentlemen...
from your right, Malcolm S. Carpenter,
Leroy G. Cooper, John H. Glenn,
Virgil I. Grissom,
Walter M. Schirra,
Alan B. Shepard, Donald K. Slayton.
These, ladies, and gentlemen, are the nation's Mercury astronauts.
(APPLAUSE)
The question everybody wants to ask, "What do the wives and children
"of these men think of their ambitions to go into space?"
My wife's attitude toward this has been the same as it has been
all along through all my flying, that, uh...
if it's what I want to do and she's behind it
and the kids are, too, a 100 percent.
Well, my wife feels the same way or, of course, I couldn't be here.
And she's, uh, with me all the way and the boys are too little to, uh,
realize what's going on yet, but I'm sure they'd feel the same way.
My wife has agreed that professional opinions are mine, career's mine,
but we also have to have a family life
that we like and this is part of the agreement.
I have no problems at home. My family's in complete agreement.
(ALL LAUGH)
John Glenn was actually unique among the seven
in terms of his personality.
I'm John Glenn, I'm the lonesome Marine on this outfit
and I'm, uh, 37. I, jokingly, uh, of course, said that, uh,
I got on this project because it'd probably be the nearest
to heaven I'd ever get, and I wanted to make the most of it.
-(ALL LAUGH) -But, uh...
my feelings are that this whole project with regard to... to space sort of stands
with us now as... as if you wanna look at it one way,
like the Wright brothers stood at Kitty Hawk about 50 years ago.
WOLFE: At the very first press conference John Glenn proved
to be the most articulate of the seven.
My wife made a remark the other day, I've been out of this world
for a long time I might as well go on out there.
(ALL LAUGH)
GLENNAN: Next question, please.
WOLFE: He had a kind of countrified sophistication, if you will,
and he had a great freckle-faced smile and was just great at handling
what we now call the media.
GLENNAN: The question is, "Would the, uh, gentlemen, uh, like to, uh...
"say which, which test, uh, they liked least?"
(ALL LAUGH)
Johnny Glenn, uh, you... you answer
and then we'll start this way and around that way.
That's a real tough one because we had some pretty good tests,
but I... I think, uh, it's rather difficult to pick one, because if the...
if you figure how many openings there are on the human body
and how far you can go in any one of them.
(ALL LAUGH)
-SCHIRRA: You gave it away. -(LAUGHTER CONTINUES)
Now... Now ,you answer which one would be the toughest for you.
(ALL LAUGH)
WOLFE: So, after this one man, Glenn, who's so articulate starts
saying all these things about God, country, family, all the rest,
immediately there's the picture of seven astronauts
as these sort of God-fearing, small town family men.
And the rest of them were stuck with it.
They either had a choice of raising their hands and saying,
"Now wait a minute, I... I don't really go on with that,
"I don't think you have to be all that faithful to your wife
"and your children and the church,"
or else doing the wise thing and saying, "Me, too."
I'm not real active in the church as, uh,
Mr. Glenn is, but, uh, I consider myself a good Christian still.
REPORTER: Mrs. Grissom, did you have any indication that
-anything was going on before today? -I had a pretty good idea.
REPORTER: Have you had time to decide how you feel about it?
Well, I don't know yet.
REPORTER: Have the kids in the neighborhood
been asking you about this?
No, not yet, but my teacher called a little while ago and...
and she said congratulations.
REPORTER: Do you think this is gonna make you a big man around town?
SCOTT: Mm-hmm. (LAUGHS)
REPORTER: How does the wife of a spaceman feel about the possibility
of so great an adventure?
Well, we're not oblivious to the dangers involved,
but, uh, I would like to go along with him if I could and so would the boys.
WRIGHT: After rigorous training, one of these men will ride
a Project Mercury space capsule around the Earth in a 125-mile high orbit
before retro rockets slow the capsule for a descent into the Atlantic.
(FAN WHIRRING)
Although the astronauts, all test pilots, feel that space flight
is no more than the next step along a familiar path,
most of us still think of it as being unreal.
(CAMERA CLICKS)
But, in fact, it is reality catching up with unreality.
Cocoa Beach, Florida is home base for those who fly rockets
from adjoining Cape Canaveral.
Ten years ago, only 246 people lived here,
but now the glittering neon signs bear testimony to the boom.
Population has increased 1,312 percent.
Everything here is space oriented.
(MUSIC STARTS PLAYING)
Here at Cape Canaveral The astronauts are all ready
They will pave the way Into space for the USA
They are guys with wives Whose lives are just ordinary
But will pave the way As we say with JFK
There's John Glenn, Grissom And Shepard, too
Astronauts who really have come through
Slayton, Schirra, and Cooper passed Carpenter's bongos are a blast off
Let's all drink a toast to the men The most in missiles
And cheers to the man who's going out In space, out in space
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four Three, two, one
Going out in space
WHITE: We've tried to develop what we call dynamic testing.
MCGEE: What does that mean?
WHITE: Well, in dynamic testing, what we do is that we try
to give the man a challenge, which is applicable to the kind
of stress loads that he would get in flight.
MCGEE: Get him as close as you can to actually doing it?
WHITE: That is correct.
The whole idea of the training was not to enable the astronaut
to control and handle the machine as other flight training.
It was really to desensitize the astronaut
to the terrors of what he was gonna undertake.
And there was a principle in psychology that if you expose a man
to a terrible type of event in gradual stages,
he can overcome the terror.
We've had to think in terms of certain stress loads.
We know that the man, for example, is going to be exposed
to certain accelerations, certain heat loads, certain vibrations,
noise, certain psychic trauma, that, uh, are just a part of doing these kind
of new adventures.
CAPCOM: ASGAR, this is Recovery 5.
MCGEE: What you're hearing is a simulation of the communications
between the space capsule and ground control.
ASTRONAUT: Standing by for impact and pickup.
Does Recovery have me? Over.
MCGEE: A less frightening exercise, depending on how you look at it,
is the underwater escape training.
In their training, actually undergoing these tests, which one do you feel
puts them under the greatest strain?
WHITE: I think the centrifuge program is probably the best single stress load.
This has come closest to being able to superimpose all the flight stresses
in one spot, simultaneously.
(RAPID WHIRRING)
GRISSOM: The centrifuge is like a merry-go-round with one seat,
one seat out on a long arm that swings you around and around,
faster and faster until they get the G-level that they want.
And we've gone as high as 18 Gs, which means 18 times the pull of gravity.
(RAPID WHIRRING INCREASES)
(CHEERFUL MUSIC PLAYING)
(CAMERA CLICKS)
-Scene one, take one. -(BOARD CLICKS)
I am John Glenn, one of our astronauts who is preparing
for our first manned ballistic flights into space.
Naturally, all of us take a very deep personal interest, needless to say,
in the Mercury capsule here that one of us will ride one of these days into space.
WOLFE: LIFE Magazine decided to buy the rights
to the personal stories of the astronauts.
And they paid what at the time was a colossal sum,
five hundred thousand dollars for three years to the seven men.
It came out to about 25 thousand dollars per family per year for three years,
and for families that were, had been used to making
eight or nine thousand it was a lot of money.
We knew there would be a lot of press attention,
but none of us realized that, uh, we were going to lose anonymity.
Time Life painted us as boy scouts and we were all American heroes,
and that was fine.
NARRATOR: Here's Astronaut John Glenn.
Hello, fellas, I'd like to talk to you for a moment about adventure.
Did you ever climb a mountain?
Or land a trout?
That's the kind of adventure you have in the Boy Scouts.
If you're looking for adventure, boys
Come join the Scouts today
MCGEE: Alan Shepard has a lively sense of the ludicrous,
which he keeps fairly well under control.
But he would prefer to skirt serious subjects.
And in a group, is likely to make the witty remark that
turns conversation into a lighter vein.
And if the technicians connected with the training of the astronauts
can be said to have a favorite, well, their favorite appears to be Shepard.
Okay.
MCGEE: Each astronaut has several meticulously fitted flight uniforms,
which they prefer to have called "pressure," not spacesuits.
Shepard says it contributes more to the astronauts' peace of mind
to say they've been inflated instead of blown up.
Now when you fellas get together among yourselves, what do you talk about?
Well, we have... have very little time off actually.
Our attentions are focused pretty much on the objectives of spaceflight.
We do take a few moments for such things as waterskiing
-and... and playing golf. -MCGEE: You like waterskiing?
-Yes, I do. -MCGEE: What about that, uh, Corvette,
that white Corvette I've seen you drive, you like that?
Well, I do enjoy driving that, yeah.
MCGEE: What... what do you like most about it?
SHEPARD: Well, it has a few little goodies underneath the hood that
-make it go faster than the ordinary car. -MCGEE: Yeah.
WOLFE: When I started looking into the stories of the astronauts,
they came from out of the world of what they themselves
-called the fighter jocks. -BROKAW: Yeah.
WOLFE: And the fighter jocks are at the top
-of the pyramid of flying in the military. -BROKAW: Yeah.
WOLFE: And these are people who not only fly hard, they play hard,
and also, they're justifiably away from home a lot.
-BROKAW: Mm-hmm. -They're attractive to women,
and this began to play a part in their lives
like the lives of every other fighter jocks.
Well, at one point the astronauts, I mean, there were so many women around them
at all times that John Glenn felt compelled to say something
to 'em about it. I mean, this thing has gotten to be too public,
is what he said at a meeting in San Diego.
WOLFE: There was bound to arise conflict between someone like, uh,
Glenn on the one hand, and say Alan Shepard on the other.
So finally, there was a little showdown.
It was out at the Kona Kai Hotel on Shelter Island in San Diego.
Now Glenn, I must say, does not mind being a maverick.
He thought that this playing around with the cookies was getting out of hand.
Cookies, as groupies were called in those days,
Glenn thought the time had come to deliver a little lecture on the subject,
so he started saying how he wasn't gonna stand by and let other members
of the group ruin the chance of a lifetime by creating some scandal
through playing around with these girls.
The others could not believe that one pilot, a peer among peers,
was standing up and giving this moral lecture.
So, Alan Shepard, who was a very different man from John Glenn,
stood up and in his stern and sort of icy commander,
Naval Academy fashion, says, "Listen, you're not gonna stand up
"and tell me or anybody else your view of morality."
That scene was one of the things that set off a real conflict between two camps.
One camp was really John Glenn and Scott Carpenter on one side,
and the others basically agreed with Shepard.
He was saying, it is not for you, as one of our peers,
to tell us how we're going to act.
And this became the rival position.
REPORTER: From President to taxi driver, every American is worried
about Russia's lead in this race to put man into space.
We should do everything possible to make any sacrifice
to help our country get up there, too.
REPORTER: The MR-2 craft will carry a chimpanzee,
specially trained for the mission at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.
The chimpanzees were kidnapped in West Africa
and they were trained to ride in the Mercury capsule.
And the training was really quite complex
and started as soon as astronaut training began.
They even did some reading of a console, the instrument panel.
They were given symbols, such as two circles and one triangle
and they had to hit the triangle,
the odd symbol, in order not to get a shock.
NARRATOR: The next decision, which chimpanzee to send on the flight.
Each of the candidates gets a complete medical checkup.
And the honor goes to an astrochimp who was nicknamed, "Ham."
This is Mercury-Redstone 2,
MR-2, and Ham is on his way.
Concern mounts, Ham's heartbeat and respiration climb fast.
The flight surgeon's eyes are glued to his console,
monitoring Ham's condition.
(BEEPING)
REPORTER: The Flight Surgeon watches the monitors,
and now Ham is doing better.
MR-2 is up over the top and reentry begins.
The spacecraft is spotted from the air.
Ham is fine.
MR-2 was a significant milestone on the highway to man's flight into space.
And the evidence is a live, space experienced, chimpanzee.
The Soviets never would identify the leader of their space program.
They always called him, "The Chief Designer."
And Khrushchev would always say that they couldn't possibly identify him
because the enemy agents would seek him out and kill him.
And the real reason was the man, his name was Sergei Korolev,
he had been a political prisoner for ten years.
He was an ex-con in the Soviet Union.
They couldn't admit an ex-con was running their space program.
It was presumed that the Soviets...
had somehow come up with a whole generation
of super scientists who could churn out these incredible space vehicles.
In fact, there was this one man, this one genius named Korolev
who had always been considered a nut.
COLLINGWOOD: Twenty-five thousand miles, 17,000 miles an hour,
nobody else has ever done anything like it.
This vehicle,
a machine that until today was only a term in the vocabulary of fiction,
it was a spaceship.
The spaceship was built in Russia, the takeoff and the landing
somewhere in Russia.
The name of the man... Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin.
(PATRIOTIC MUSIC PLAYS)
The first hero of the space age receiving
a hero's welcome today.
Yuri Gagarin, the first man ever to circle the Earth in orbit, reports to his chief,
Nikita S. Khrushchev, Prime Minister of the Soviet Union.
And in a day of wild jubilation, he was embraced by the Soviet people
as a new pioneer, a Columbus, a Linden, Lenin in a spacesuit.
RENICK: Here at Cape Canaveral, the announcement of the Russian success
has made no visible impact on this space-oriented community.
The people who live here, the ones who watch missile firings
as a pastime, still have a local pride in NASA's Project Mercury.
They are anxiously awaiting the American firing
of an astronaut into space.
A shot that is anticipated in the next two or three weeks.
MCGEE: At Cape Canaveral, the countdown, which could take days,
began early this morning.
And there are rumors that Shepard has been selected for the flight
with Glenn as standby and vice versa.
The Project Mercury officials have made no announcement on either the timing
of the launch or the astronaut chosen.
But the launching fever is gripping the cape
and will soon spread across the country.
The anticipation will however be dulled by the sobering fact that
even if this experiment is a spectacular success,
it will still leave the United States second to Russia.
And if it's a catastrophic failure, there will be deep gloom compounded
by the tragic loss perhaps of human life.
-(ENGINE REVVING) -(BEEPING)
ANCHOR: We have interrupted this program for a special broadcast
from Cape Canaveral.
We switch now to the Cape.
MCGEE: The actual rocket that will be fired in this launching
and the capsule that will ride atop it have been selected
and made ready at Cape Canaveral.
The name of the astronaut chosen is not to be made known
until moments before the launch.
REPORTER: The pilot selected for the first manned flight attempt
was Alan B. Shepard, Jr.
RENICK: Hundreds of persons traveled to Cocoa Beach to see with their own eyes
at long distance, the streak of flame as the Redstone heads skyward.
People stayed at beach vantage points through the night sleeping in automobiles,
tucked into sleeping bags.
In the distance, about two miles away, huge searchlights were trained
on the Redstone gantry tower.
Shepard left the Mercury astronaut hangar in the specially equipped
transportation van, and then he journeyed to the launching pad area, got out,
took a look at the missile, and proceeded up the elevator
to assume his position inside the space, uh, capsule.
ABERNATHY: He will not go into orbit, as Yuri Gagarin did,
but he will ride his capsule or spacecraft 116 miles up.
And there he'll hang weightless for about five minutes
until gravity pulls him back through the atmosphere to the sea
nearly three hundred miles down range.
The whole flight will take just 16 minutes but even though brief,
it will help tell us whether man can be useful in nearby space.
The tall gantry tower moved back on its tracks nearly three hours ago,
leaving the white Redstone standing alone like a monument of the space age.
Alan Shepard, encased in his cumbersome pressure suit,
has remained in the capsule on his back on his contour couch,
busy with his laboratory of complex instruments,
going through the motions he's often gone through in practice sessions,
talking to the control center.
ENGINEER: Firing command, 30, mark.
SHEPARD: Roger, Periscope has retracted.
ENGINEER: That is the best periscope we've got.
SHEPARD: Main bus 24 volts.
TROUT: He has been busy but he would not be human
if he did not feel the strain.
ENGINEER: Program. Roger.
C.O. Control fuel. Roger, fire one. Awesome panel.
SHEPARD: Automatic fuel is 95. Regular is 96.
Cameras and tape recorders are running.
VON FREMD: Sixty-two newsmen from 12 foreign countries are present.
Some pace about, some sit ramrod straight staring at the launching pad
where the Redstone sits.
A squawk box just announced T-minus six minutes and counting.
WOLFE: I sensed that in Alan Shepard's... flight,
that as it got down close to zero,
that the engineers were so worked up for fear, each one for fear that
it would be his system that would cause a catastrophe.
Finally, Shepard heard one of them...
talking about an overheating piece of equipment.
ENGINEER: Somebody along, somebody, a mechanic on the second?
WOLFE: The one engineer was saying to the other, "You know, I think we better
"take that thing out and look at it before we proceed."
And Shepard knew that taking that thing out was not a 15-minute job,
it was a two-day job.
ENGINEER: Down at 170. No, they should standby.
WOLFE: And at this point, he got on the radio, and he says,
"Look... I'm cooler than you are."
WOLFE: "Why don't you fix your little problem
"and light this candle?"
DC power will be applied to the capsule. DC power will be applied to the capsule.
WOLFE: And that seemed to pull 'em all together and said,
"Okay, if he's willing to take the risk, then by God we should be willing, too."
ENGINEER: T-minus 15 seconds.
T-minus ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four,
-three, two, one, zero. -(BLASTS)
Lift off. Ignition.
SHEPARD: Roger, lift off and the clock has started.
REPORTER: The Redstone is rising from its launching pad, slowly at first,
going straight up into the sky.
SHEPARD: Yes, sir, reading you loud and clear.
RENICK: The sound is now reaching our vantage point here.
So far, so good.
The news people are applauding.
Tremendous cheers going off.
Alan B. Shepard in the nose cone of that rocket.
SHEPARD: This is Freedom 7. The fuel is go, 1.2 G, cabin at 14 psi.
Oxygen is go.
REPORTER: Seventy-eight thousand pounds of thrust.
They're pushing the missile up into the sky.
ENGINEER: The trajectory is A-okay.
REPORTER: The speed is picking up to 4,500 miles an hour...
to carry spaceman Shepard 115 miles above the earth.
LAUNCH STAFF: Freedom 7 is still go. The trajectory is A-okay.
Freedom 7 with astronaut Alan B. Shepard reports the fuel system is go, 4 G.
SHEPARD: Cabin holding at 5.5.
LAUNCH STAFF: Cabin 5.5 pounds per square inch. Oxygen go, all systems go.
HACKES: Medical monitor okay. Apparently, the flight is going just
as well as planned, perhaps even a little better.
None of the emergencies for which we had planned for so long
has, uh, yet taken place, and, of course, we hope none of them will.
SHEPARD: On the periscope, what a beautiful view.
HACKES: At this point, the pilot is about six minutes and 30 seconds
after his launch, 6:30 after launch.
In just a moment or two, he will confirm that he is at the apogee of his flight,
that is the most distant point from the Earth,
which we expect will be 115 to 117 miles.
(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)
REPORTER: Far out at sea an armada of ships stand by to pick the capsule
out of the sea after it parachutes in.
SHEPARD: Okay, reentry attitude retros are jettisoned.
MUELLER: The capsule is dropping radar chaff
for the search planes and the ship.
SHEPARD: Uh... G-buildup, three...
six... nine.
Main chute is green, main chute is coming un-reefed and looks good.
HACKES: This, of course, will be the first, uh, word we get.
We hope within a matter of seconds that the capsule has been spotted.
DOWNS: It just hit the water a moment ago.
A cheer went up from the ship company watching here from all decks
on the aircraft carrier.
The astronaut, Alan Shepard, has just climbed out of the capsule.
And they are now trying to get him up into the helicopter.
No one, especially newsmen, will be allowed to ask him any questions
until he has been debriefed by doctors.
WOLFE: Glenn and the others now watched from the sidelines as Al Shepard
was hoisted out of their midst.
REPORTER: Here come the astronauts, and there's Shepard!
WOLFE: And installed as a national hero on the order of a Lindbergh.
As the first United States Astronaut, was an outstanding contribution
to the advancement of human knowledge of space technology.
And I speak on behalf of, uh, the Vice President, who is Chairman
of our Space Council, the members of the House and Senate,
space committee who are with us today.
And, uh...
this decoration which has gone from the ground up, here.
(LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)
Well, all of a sudden during the period of the middle of the weightlessness,
I realized that somebody was gonna ask me that question.
(ALL LAUGH)
So...
(APPLAUSE)
So, I said to myself you'd better figure out an answer.
Seriously, as we have said before, uh, during the short periods of weightlessness
that we've experienced during our training period,
it's quite a pleasant sensation.
KENNEDY: Finally, if we are to win the battle
that is now going on around the world...
between freedom and tyranny, the dramatic achievements in space,
which occurred in recent weeks, should have made clear to us all,
as did the Sputnik in 1957,
impact of this adventure on the minds of men everywhere
who are attempting to make a determination of which road they should take.
I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal
before this decade is out of landing a man on the Moon
-and returning him safely to the Earth. -(APPLAUSE)
SHEARER: The president put it like this, "It will not be one man going to the Moon,
"it will be the entire nation, for all of us must work to put him there."
(EPIC MUSIC PLAYING)
MCGEE: This training device was created especially for the astronauts.
By releasing jets of air, they learn to control their movements
in any one of three directions, or any combination of the three.
As they perform these exercises, a film strip of the world's geography
is projected on a screen to help them learn, by instant sighting,
where they may be along their projected path.
Virgil Grissom is the astronaut.
Do you have any difficulty convincing yourself that you might actually
see the world go by like that someday?
I really don't sit in the trainer and think about myself
being 100 miles above the Earth.
I'm occupied with the control task and this is the thing that
really occupies my mind, not daydreaming.
BERGMAN: And here we are back at ABC News headquarters
on Cape Canaveral.
Scarcely three minutes away from America's second manned space shot
with captain Gus Grissom sitting in the Mercury space capsule
atop that 83-foot high Redstone rocket.
And as of now, everything looks like it's in a go condition.
SHEPARD: Periscope has retracted.
T-minus 15 seconds.
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,
five, four, three, two, one.
Ignition. Lift off.
(LAUNCHES)
MALE VOICE: All systems are go, and Gus Grissom sounds
like a very confident test pilot today.
-SHEPARD: Loud and clear. -LAUNCH STAFF: Roger.
GRISSOM: Okay, the fuel is go, about one and a quarter Gs.
Cabin pressure is just coming off the peg. The oxygen is go.
POWERS: Six seventeen into the flight.
The capsule is coming around into orbit attitude.
He has brought his spacecraft around into reentry attitude
that is with the big bell shape beginning to point down.
REPORTER: Flight Surgeon reports that Gus Grissom came through
the high G forces of reentry in A-okay condition.
REPORTER: Now, we're advised that as a result of communications
with Gus Grissom floating in the water, he's told his recovery helicopters that
he intends to finish his checklist and make sure that everything is secure
in the cockpit before he opens the hatch to come out.
(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)
MALE VOICE: The astronaut, Virgil Grissom, is out of the capsule,
swimming in the water.
The capsule itself is apparently sinking lower into the water...
and there is fear that it might sink completely below the surface of the water.
Two helicopters are hovering very close to the astronaut
and the capsule out there.
The helicopter is holding up the capsule itself.
They're checking on Grissom again, but the helicopter has a cable
aboard the capsule and is holding it up at the present time.
The helicopter is hovering over and holding the capsule up.
The capsule was sinking badly in the water and that's the reason that Virgil Grissom
got out of the capsule.
One helicopter is hovering very close to the capsule
and now they're moving in beside it.
They'll have to hold the capsule up and get a cable down to Grissom as well.
(LOUD SPLASH)
MALE VOICE: The capsule has dropped.
The capsule has been dropped by the helicopter.
And it's dropped back into the water.
Now, whether they can get it again before it sinks or not,
that is going to be a major problem at this time.
WOLFE: By this time, Grissom was nearly drowning.
He had forgotten to close one of the inlet valves
for the oxygen supply in his suit.
(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)
REPORTER: They're making an attempt to get a cable to Virgil Grissom.
And it looks like Grissom is coming up now, it looks like Grissom is coming up
out of the water. And there's, you can, you can see him now.
He's about four miles from us, and he's being pulled up.
And Grissom is safe and sound in the helicopter after his dunking
when the capsule itself started to sink.
MCGEE: To recap briefly, we have had a second successful launching
of an American astronaut. Obviously not as successful as the first one
because the capsule itself was lost in the recovery operation,
but successful in its most important and critical area.
The astronaut himself, Air Force Captain Virgil Grissom, was recovered.
WOLFE: The capsule had been equipped for the first time with a hatch
that could be opened from the inside.
Now, the controversy was over whether or not he had panicked and decided,
"I've gotta get out of this thing," and hit the button,
causing this catastrophe. Or whether he had blundered,
and had inadvertently somehow hit the thing,
either of which would be a cardinal sin.
REPORTER: The President has called
to the astronaut Captain Virgil Gus Grissom.
WOLFE: Grissom had John F. Kennedy to thank.
He was not about to let the second flight of his new administration
be classified as a debacle.
By, it's kind of universal agreement, it was said,
"Well, Gus's flight was really a success.
"He just had a little trouble at the very end."
GRISSOM: I started my, uh, pitch and yaw movement
to check out the manual control system, and, uh, I was so fascinated by this view
out the window that I had difficulty controlling on...
difficulty concentrating on the instruments.
I kept wanting to peek out the window.
You over here.
REPORTER: What happened to the inflatable, uh, life raft, Gus?
Did you have to get out too fast for that, or what's the procedure?
GRISSOM: Uh... I took off my helmet, unstrapped myself,
I called, uh, helicopters, told them I was ready to come out.
So I was all set, waiting for them, laid back down on the couch.
I was just laying there, minding my own business when, "Pow,"
the hatch went, I looked up, and I saw nothing but blue sky,
and water starting to come in over the sill.
Uh, without a doubt that was the biggest shock of the day to me,
to see that door go off.
-Back, over here. -REPORTER: Do you have an impression
of how much time elapsed between the time the hatch blew
-and the capsule would fill? -REPORTER: Somebody said to you,
"Get out of the blank, blank capsule quick."
-Was this part of your conversation? -REPORTER: In addition to the hatch,
what are the other things you...
REPORTER: Captain, do you have any explanation
of why that escape hatch came off?
Is it possible you could have grazed against the plunger button?
Well, I'm, uh, pretty certain in my own mind that I didn't
because it's quite difficult to get to it.
(APPLAUSE)
REPORTER: NBC News has presented a news conference by Mercury astronaut
Virgil I. Grissom, who, yesterday, became America's second man into space.
REPORTER: Two pilot teams have been selected
for Project Mercury's initial manned orbital spaceflight.
John H. Glenn Jr. has been selected for the first flight
with Scott Carpenter acting as backup.
GLENN: We've done a great amount of training, as you're well aware.
A lot of it has been new and varied, and as we have gone through a lot of this,
I have tried to share a lot of this with the family when I come home
from various activities.
In fact, that's usually the first thing we do when I get home from a trip.
We all, uh, get caught up, not only on my activities,
but on what Annie and the children have been doing, too.
I'm sure you've given some thought to the possibility that this flight
may not turn out well, and that you may not come back.
If that should happen, what kind of a memory
would you want your boy to have about you?
Well, that's an interesting question, to say the least. (CHUCKLES)
MCGEE: It is.
GLENN: We all have certain talents.
It's up to us to use those talents that we have to the maximum.
And if I can leave that sort of a heritage that I used the talents I had to the best
of my ability while I was here, I think that's the best memory anyone could leave.
REPORTER: Around town, the tension is building,
perhaps more than we've ever seen it here.
RENICK: The big question here surrounding tomorrow's scheduled launch
of astronaut John Glenn into a triple orbit around
the Earth is weather.
Weather here at the launch site and downrange in the Atlantic
where Navy recovery vessels are scheduled to meet Glenn as he comes out of orbit.
WOLFE: John Glenn was about to make his flight,
in which he would be the first American to go into orbit.
The flight was to take place in February, and there was about four or five flights
that were delayed by the weather.
Glenn had been up on top of the rocket for five and a half hours,
waiting for the weather to clear.
Finally, it wouldn't clear, and the flight was scrubbed.
REPORTER: I have an announcement for you.
An attempt to launch a man
to orbital Project Mercury spacecraft here today...
was postponed due to a heavy overcast in the launch area.
WOLFE: And at this point, Lyndon Johnson, who was Vice President,
and had been made a kind of functionary in-charge of the space program
to give a Vice President something to do,
was suffering an extreme case of media deprivation.
And he was determined to get inside of the Glenn household,
and console Annie Glenn...
on nationwide television for the ordeal that she had had to go through
while waiting to see if her husband was going to be exploded into space,
or up to the harp form.
REPORTER: The reaction here at the Glenn household, of course,
is one of disappointment. Mrs. Glenn, uh, was anxious for the shot
to go this morning, as, uh, were all of us.
She is looking forward to the next launching date, yet to be announced.
As you can see, a large crowd of reporters, neighbors,
and casual spectators are gathered here.
WOLFE: Now, Annie Glenn was terrified of this visit.
Fact was, as practically no one in the country knew,
she had a ferocious stutter.
So, she kept sending out word that, "No. Thank you very much.
"I really don't want to see the Vice President.
"It's a very private moment for me."
She just wouldn't let him in the door.
And by now, he was in a limousine about six blocks away,
waiting to be admitted to the presence of the space-wife.
First thing Glenn knows, he's back in the ready room,
taking off his pressure suit, and in comes a delegation...
of brass from NASA, marching into the place, saying,
"John, we need your cooperation,
"we're having a little problem with your wife."
He says, "You're having a problem with my wife?"
And they said, "Well, yeah, she won't let the Vice President into the house.
"And you tell her, she's going to let the Vice President of the United States
"into that house to console her." So Glenn gets on the telephone,
and he says, "Look, if you don't want the Vice President to come in,
"if you don't want the President to come in, they're not coming in!"
Well, Glenn, with that gesture, stood a good chance of losing his flight
because James Webb, who was the new administrator of NASA
at that time, he wanted to replace him right away.
You know, he said, "He's not a team player."
It was only the fact that some of Webb's subordinates immediately said,
"Look, the astronauts have their differences.
"They have a lot of rivalries.
"But on something like this, they're going to close ranks
"as any pilots would in a squadron, and they're going to rebel.
"And you simply will not be able to carry it through."
KAPLOW: And here is pilot Glenn stepping out now.
Switching the portable air cooler
from his left to his right hand, then back to his left.
And he moves his way around the front of the truck on Launchpad 14.
And now stepping into the elevator, followed by Dr. Douglas,
by suit technician Schmitt, by astronaut Deke Slayton.
BERGMAN: Colonel John Glenn was awakened at 2:20 a.m. Eastern Time
this morning to begin preparing for this mission.
The second attempt at getting the free world's first man hurled
into a three-orbit mission around this world.
I don't know any words for this except the trite ones,
tension is mounting here at Cape Canaveral.
We've heard that phrase so many times before, but I don't know any circumstance
to which is applies quite like this.
FLIGHT DIRECTOR: Status check, pressurization?
MALE VOICE: Go. LOX tanking? I have a blinking, high-level light?
-MALE VOICE 1: You are Go! -MALE VOICE 2: Umbilical retract now?
-FLIGHT DIRECTOR: Range operations? -LAUNCH STAFF: Go, clear to launch.
-FLIGHT DIRECTOR: Mercury capsule? -LAUNCH STAFF: Go!
Fifteen seconds. Good Lord riding all the way. Godspeed, John Glenn.
REPORTER: Moving past 30 seconds into the countdown.
LAUNCH STAFF: Ten seconds and counting.
-REPORTER: T-minus ten seconds. -LAUNCH STAFF: Ten, nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four, three
two, one, zero, ignition.
Liftoff. Liftoff!
(TRIUMPHANT MUSIC PLAYING)
REPORTER: The Atlas missile has lifted off from the pad,
and is rising steady into the sky.
(ROCKET ENGINE ROARING)
REPORTER: As John Glenn Jr. has begun his first orbital ride around the Earth.
The time of the lift off was 9:47.
As the spacecraft moved out of sight from Florida,
it was picked up by the Bermuda tracking station.
John Glenn's voice was coming in loud and clear.
GLENN: So, the sun is coming up behind me in the periscope,
a brilliant, brilliant red. Over.
-MALE VOICE: Roger. -(RADIO STATIC)
TOWNSEND: Exactly one hour and three minutes ago,
John Glenn left Cape Canaveral.
Traveling at 17,545 miles an hour at an altitude varying
from 100 to 160 miles above the Earth.
REPORTER: Did you ever show up for work today?
FEMALE VOICE: Yes, I did. We got permission from our company to watch it.
REPORTER: Good for them. I don't...
imagine they figure they'd get much work out of you anyway.
Not today. They said this is more important than work.
GLENN: Uh, this is Friendship 7, I'll try to describe what I'm in here.
Uh, I am in a... a big mass of some very small particles,
uh, that are brilliantly lit up, like they're luminescent.
I never saw anything like it. They're around a little...
they're coming by the capsule...
uh, and they look like little stars, a whole shower of them coming by.
WOLFE: They were undoubtedly particles of some sort,
particles that caught the sunlight at a certain angle.
They were beautiful.
There are literally thousands of them.
WOLFE: But were they coming from the capsule?
That could mean trouble.
WOLFE: They swirled around his capsule like tiny weightless diamonds,
little bijoux, no? They were more like fireflies.
GLENN: Uh, now that I am out in the bright sun,
uh, they seem to have disappeared.
LAUNCH STAFF: Flight from data reduction.
Go ahead.
(ALARM BLINKING)
LAUNCH STAFF: Uh, Friendship 7, uh, we have been reading, uh,
indication on the ground on segment 51, which is landing bag deploy.
Uh, we suspect this is an erroneous signal.
WOLFE: If the landing bag had deployed, and there was no way
he could look out and see it,
not even with the periscope because it would be directly behind him,
if it had deployed, then the heat shield must be loose,
and might come off during reentry.
If the heat shield came off, he would burn up inside the capsule like a steak.
REPORTER: When the, uh, craft does begin to encounter denser atmosphere
that temperature we were talking about will mount up to about 3,000 degrees.
That will occur at approximately 25 miles altitude.
And at that point, the spacecraft will be moving at about 15,000 miles an hour.
The craft will sustain temperature of that amount for about two minutes,
and the problem will be to have it absorbed by the heat shield,
which is made of a very special sort of plastic material that will burn off.
LAUNCH STAFF: Can you give him that message please, Linus?
Roger, we can do.
SHEPARD: Uh, Seven, this is Cape. Over?
We're not sure whether or not your landing bag has deployed.
Uh, we feel it's far safer to re-enter with the retro package on.
Uh, we see no difficulty at this time in that type of reentry. Over.
Uh, this is Friendship 7. Now, what is the reason for this?
Do you have any reason? Over.
DAVIS: There had been some trouble with the heat shield equipment
over Hawaii, and they have taken a precautionary measure
to keep the heat shield equipment on with the retro package for a while,
to make sure that the warning they got was a false warning.
And so, the heat shield retro packet was kept on the space capsule,
and, uh, precautions were taken.
Uh, this is Friendship 7, uh, going to reentry attitude then in that case.
REPORTER: The retro packet and the retrorockets
we talk about are really brakes.
John Glenn's capsule was in space with the large blunt end, facing forward,
and the retrorockets are on that blunt end.
And what they are, is they throw some thrust out forward,
slowing the capsule down, and that reduces its speed
below orbital velocity, and the capsule starts to reenter the atmosphere.
All right, roger, retracting scope manually.
REPORTER: He is in good condition, and preparing to fire those retrorockets
to begin that long landing flight towards the Atlantic.
CAPCOM: Five, four, three, two, one, fire.
GLENN: Roger, retros are firing. Are they ever.
It feels like I'm going back toward Hawaii.
CAPCOM: Uh, Seven, this is Cape. Over.
-Go ahead, Cape, you're going out. -(RADIO STATIC)
CAPCOM: Uh, we recommend that you...
LAUNCH STAFF: Friendship 7 spacecraft is now encountering the atmosphere
off the east coast of Florida.
TOWNSEND: He's over the east coast of Florida,
and, uh, at the moment, there is no contact with John Glenn.
GLENN: (INAUDIBLE) I have a white sand... correction...
CAPCOM: Uh, Seven, this is Cape, do you read? Over.
POWERS: The Mercury spacecraft is in its reentry process at this time.
CAPCOM: Uh, Seven, this is Cape, do you read? Over.
POWERS: We are not receiving any voice communication at this time.
And we're waiting for the electric moment when we hear that the main chute
has deployed, and is bringing him safely back to Earth.
CAPCOM: Friendship 7, this is Cape, do you read?
(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)
GLENN: This is Friendship 7. A real fireball outside.
DOWNS: We have not yet seen any sign of the drogue parachute,
which would appear, it opens up at about 40,000 feet.
(AIR WHOOSHES LOUDLY)
GLENN: The chute is on green, chute is out in reef condition
at 10,800 feet and beautiful chute.
Chute looks good.
LAUNCH STAFF: The Destroyer has the capsule parachute in sight.
-They are talking. -MALE VOICE: Roger.
TOWNSEND: He should be splashing down in about 20 seconds from now,
if our advance estimate is correct.
This is Friendship 7, standing by for impact.
TOWNSEND: Right now, the Destroyer Noa is coming
right alongside the capsule.
So, within a matter of a very few minutes, we ought to be getting word
on the pickup of John Glenn from the Friendship 7.
We have another report now from Colonel Powers. Here he is.
POWERS: The spacecraft was picked up clear of the water
at one minute after 3:00,
and finally set down on the deck at four minutes
after 3:00 this afternoon, Eastern Standard Time.
SHADEL: We have our reporter, Dave Nichols,
standing by at Arlington, Virginia,
at the home of Colonel Glenn.
Mrs. Glenn will make an appearance there for the first time today.
There are several things that... that we would like to say,
but I would want everyone to know...
that this is the most wonderful day for my family, and we're quite...
we're so proud of our... of their... their... their father,
of the... Mercury team...
of everyone that's made this such a successful day.
TOWNSEND: Each orbit took approximately 89 minutes. There were three of them.
Undoubtedly, the most eventful four hours and 50 minutes of his entire life.
GLENN: Perhaps I could've been given information a little earlier
and a little more completely on the heat shield problem
where they thought it possibly was loose.
Apparently, there was a very, very lengthy discussion on this
that I was unaware of. And, uh, if I had been aware that
there was possibly a problem in this regard,
I would have been aware to watch more closely for little bumps
on the capsule, or anything that might have given a clue as to our status.
I was kept reasonably in the dark on this.
-How do you do, sir? What's your name? -My name is Oliver Whiting,
and I'm a British subject, sir.
That's rather apparent, sir, what do you think of, uh...
-Well, I think this is one of... -...what America and the free world
-have accomplished today. -Indeed. I think it's one of the greatest
scientific advances that has ever taken place in the lives of anybody
in this vast concourse. And I would like to say something,
-if I may be permitted to do so. -Please do.
Well, sir, it's this, I think that in this scientific age today,
we have shrunk the surface of the Earth
to such a state that now it's a single unit, and we cannot think
of it as otherwise, and I hope we never will again.
CRONKITE: John Glenn arrived home this morning
to be met in Florida by his family.
(CHEERING)
(MOTORCYCLE ENGINES REV)
CRONKITE: John Glenn now points out details
of the capsule to President Kennedy.
GLENN: Normally, those retrorockets are dropped off after firing.
There was some indication, though, on the ground
that the, uh, heat shield might have come loose,
and if this had happened, why, of course, the whole thing would just have
disintegrated, and burned up.
So that was rather... it was an interesting return.
Kind of like having a... (INAUDIBLE)
CRONKITE: Along with some answers, Glenn's flight produced some questions,
like the mystery of the tiny luminous particles
he reported seeing with each sunrise.
All I can say about these is I observed them.
I saw them for about, from the first light of sun to a period of some...
Uh... oh, three and a half, four minutes.
That time period made close observation of them.
Uh, they were very luminous, a yellowish green color.
And, uh, as George Ralph, our psychiatrist listened to this and said,
-"What did they say, John?" -(ALL LAUGH)
People I was sittin' this mornin' With this on my mind
Said there ain't no livin' man who go Around the world three time
But John Glenn done it
Yes, he did
WOLFE: When John Glenn became the first American to go into Earth orbit,
there was a ticker tape parade for him.
The astronauts all remembered so vividly the sight of New York policemen
directing traffic in the intersections for this big parade,
crying, tears rolling down their cheeks.
And saying, you know, "We love you, Johnny,"
to John Glenn, "We love you." And I think it was an emotional moment
in this country's history that has never been equal since then.
I don't think we've had a nationwide hero since John Glenn.
John Glenn said it
MALE VOICE: All I can say is that in my 72 years of life, I, uh,
never witnessed anything like this before.
Today, I know that I seem to be standing alone on this great platform...
just as I seemed 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.
As our knowledge of this universe in which we live increases,
may God grant us the wisdom and guidance to use it wisely.
-Thank you very much. -(APPLAUSE)
VON FREMD: This flight was just the end of the beginning.
It was the first American orbital flight, but by no means the last.
The next one on the schedule should come about 60 days from now.
REPORTER: Donald Slayton, known as Deke, was replaced by M. Scott Carpenter,
the next astronaut in line for orbit, because of mild heart palpitations.
(TAPE STARTS RECORDING)
WOLFE: Okay, repeat after me, I went to a wonderful party.
RENE: I went to a wonderful party.
-WOLFE: I must say the fun was intense. -RENE: I must say the fun was intense.
WOLFE: We all had to do what the people we knew would be doing 100 years hence.
RENE: We all had to do what the people we knew would all be doing 100 years hence.
RENE: Yeah, I asked. Mm-hmm.
WOLFE: After a while, Rene didn't know whether
it was her modest literary ambitions
or her resentment of the pat role of astronaut wife that made her do it.
After the earlier successes of Shepard, Grissom, and Glenn,
Scott Carpenter's mission seemed, in advance, almost routine.
Actually, it was our most ambitious challenge yet.
It required the pilot to do things we hadn't dared ask of his predecessors.
A larger degree of control and maneuvering the space capsule,
more tests to help measure the way things move in space,
and how they look to a man observing them.
REPORTER: Now, the astronaut's ready, and so is everything else.
LAUNCH STAFF: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six.
RENE:
LAUNCH STAFF: Zero, ignition. Liftoff.
LAUNCH STAFF: Liftoff. Liftoff. The clock has started.
-Roger. -CARPENTER: Loud and clear, Gus.
GRISSOM: Roger, Aurora 7. Standby for the time hack.
CARPENTER: Roger.
RENE:
(RENE LAUGHS)
WOLFE:
RENE:
WOLFE: Thorns.
GRISSOM: Roger, Aurora.
CARPENTER: Clear blue sky.
(SHUTTER CLICKS)
CARPENTER:
(SHUTTER CLICKS)
CARPENTER:
CAPCOM:
CARPENTER:
CAPCOM:
CARPENTER:
CAPCOM:
CARPENTER:
CRONKITE: The crowds at Grand Central New York
and around the United States...
wait prayerfully for this moment, here's Powers.
POWERS: Our data at this time indicates that it is distinctly possible that
the Aurora 7 spacecraft may land
considerably longer down range than it was planned.
Our present estimate of his landing point may go as far as 200 miles down range.
WOLFE: Cronkite had been explaining Scott's fuel problem
as he entered the atmosphere,
then Cronkite's voice began to take on more and more concern.
We have a very, even more disturbing report it seems to this reporter here
from NASA, from space authorities.
They say they did not pick up any radar blips
from the descending spacecraft.
It almost begs for interpretation as to what that could mean.
There has not even been radar contact with the Aurora 7 since the last contact
with, uh, Scott Carpenter by voice,
which was back when he announced his G forces building
for the reentry into the atmosphere.
This is the worst chore this reporter ever went through,
trying to fill time when there is nothing to say, except wait.
Uh, it would seem that even 200 miles would not be too far to pick up
a radar signal.
(ENGINE REVVING)
POWERS: A US Navy P2V aircraft in the landing area
-has received an electronic contact. -(BEEPING)
RENE:
POWERS: We do not have any further details at this time,
except now diverting his aircraft into that immediate area.
CRONKITE: Let's go now to Joe Campbell, who is aboard the USS Intrepid.
CAMPBELL: Well, we've just received a happy word that one of the ships'
own jet helicopters,
which has been speeding to the scene of impact,
has just affected rescue of astronaut Scott Carpenter,
and is now proceeding towards the Intrepid.
-CRONKITE: Oh, boy. -(CHEERING)
CRONKITE: Well, that's the longest 45 minutes we've ever spent.
Scott Carpenter is out of the Atlantic Ocean.
After his four hours and 50 minutes in space, three hours on the Atlantic,
bobbing around in that small raft.
EDWARDS: Well, it started out like Buck Rogers,
and wound up like a condensed version of Robinson Crusoe.
News of Carpenter's recovery reached his wife Rene at Cocoa Beach, Florida,
-the site of space program headquarters. -RENE: I want to say...
that...
the effort... involved...
in one of these missions... is such that...
at the end, we often feel... emotionally drained...
and we tend to fall back on...
the comfortable phrases...
and words like "happy," "proud," "thrilled, "
and we feel so much more.
I do want to say... that I know that this has been hard
for you not being able to have... the doorstep...
but the privacy that it afforded me was wonderful for me today.
I think it's thrilling. I stopped everything, and watched it,
and the baby was watching it, and she wanted to go too.
She's four years old, and she wanted to go on the trip with the, with the man.
And when his children and his wife were on, uh,
I thought it was real exciting.
I think everybody was more or less sitting on the edge
of their seats until they did find him.
I think it's wonderful. I think it's a great thing for this country!
And believe me, we're never going to be buried.
LAUNCH STAFF: Roger, Wally, you got anything to say to everyone
watching you across the country on this thing?
We're going out live on this.
SCHIRRA: I'm looking at the United States,
and starting to pitch up slightly with this drifting rate.
And I see the Moon, which I'm sure no one in the United States can see
as well as I right now.
CRONKITE: This flight's scheduled to be the last of the Mercury Program
before the Mercury Program ends, and we begin flights
in our two-man capsule, the Gemini.
The intermediate step before we go to Apollo, and the step to the Moon.
REPORTER: America's team of astronauts was increased to 16 today,
when The Manned Space Center at Houston, Texas named the men today.
It was specified that they will be trained for trips to the Moon.
We've had a number of these...
ceremonies at the White House and at Cape Canaveral to pay tribute
to a very distinguished group of Americans, who have in,
our time, in this rather civil society, demonstrated that there are...
great frontiers still to be crossed.
And in flying through space, they've carried with them the wishes, the prayers,
the hopes and the pride of 180 million of their fellow countrymen.
I hope that, uh, we will be encouraged to continue with this program.
I know that a good many people say, "Why go to the Moon?"
Just as many people said to Lindbergh, "Why go to Paris?"
Lindbergh said, "It's not so much a matter of logic as it is of feeling."
I think that the United States has committed itself to this great adventure
in the '60s. I think before the end of the '60s, we will see a man
on the Moon, an American.
And I think in so doing, it's not nearly that we're interested in making
this particular journey, but we are interested in demonstrating
a dominance of this new sea,
and making sure that in this new great adventurous period,
that the Americans are playing their great role as they have in the past.
(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)
(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)