Scrapbook 1: May? 1961 — Kennedy, sleeping Americans, Alan Shepard
‘WE’RE GOING TO TRY THIS YEAR, BUT…’
From BRUCE ROTHWELL Washington, Wednesday
PRESIDENT Kennedy told Americans tonight that Russia is going to lead in space for some time to come.
“As I said in my ‘State of the Union’ message it will be worse before it is better,” he warned.
“It will be some time before we can catch up. We are, I hope, going to move ahead in other fields.”
When a questioner at his Press conference told Mr. Kennedy: “Americans are tired of being second to Russia in space,” the President shot back: “The Soviet Union has an important advantage by having secured large booster rockets. That advantage is going to be with them for some time.
“However tired anyone may be—and no one is more tired than I am—it is going to take some time for us to catch up and I think we have to recognise it.
“We are going to try this year—but we are behind.”
The first reaction here to Russia’s space feat was to turn for solace to the American Astronauts. But they were . . . ASLEEP.
“It’s 3 a.m. in the morning, you jerks,” their Press officer, Lieut.-Colonel John Powers told inquiring newspapermen.
“If you’re wanting something from us, we were all asleep.”
In the mass of blame-seeking and self-criticism now unleashed this statement, above all others, will endure.
The morning radio bulletins gave it top place under the announcement, in Russian with translation, that one Yuri Gargarin had gone into the wild blue yonder to circle the earth and was now back home safe and sound.
By then the Astronauts had woken and their spokesman offered a more considered opinion: “We’d be dishonest if we said we weren’t disappointed,” he said. “We have expected the Soviets to do this for some time. We all expected to wake up some morning and find out they had.”
This is the Redstone rocket that will launch America’s astronaut on his 290-mile journey into Space. The capsule in which he will ride is little bigger than a telephone booth.
AMERICA’S delayed attempt to blast off her first Spaceman now seems almost certain to be made tomorrow.
The giant rocket that will shoot Spaceman Alan Shepard 115 miles up Is due to be fired at noon, British time.
It all depends on continued improvement of the bad weather which caused postponement of the “shoot” on Tuesday
Perfect
Conditions at the Space headquarters here in Florida tonight were practically perfect.
An Englishman who was “just an average pupil” at a tiny village school Is the man who will be responsible for rescuing Shepard from the Atlantic after his fifteen-minute Space trip.
He is Peter Armitage, 32, from Hamble, Hants, the Americans’ chief expert on “Spaceman recovery.”