Scrapbook 1: May 1961 — Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom

ALAN SHEPARD, America’s conquering hero of Space, is hauled up from the Atlantic after making HISTORY.

This dramatic picture was taken from the helicopter that picked up thirty-seven-year-old Commander Shepard when he came down in his Space capsule after soaring 115 miles into the sky yesterday.

And, as he stepped aboard the helicopter, his first words were: “BOY! WHAT A RIDE!”

Ninety million Americans watched on television the 5,100 m.p.h. rocket-shot that has given a tremendous boost to the nation’s spirits.

One of them was President Kennedy—who telephoned a “Well done” message to Spaceman Shepard from the White House.

THRILL

In Britain, and all over the rest of the free world, millions more followed the thrilling flight.

NEW YORK, Monday.

YES - it IS Virgil Grissom for America’s next Space flight.

Space research chiefs today confirmed that Air Force Captain Grissom, 35, will be aboard America’s second manned Space capsule when it is launched tomorrow—around midday, British time—at Cape Canaveral, Florida.

Grissom, who is expected to repeat the 115-mile, straight-up-and-down trip made last May by Navy Commander Alan Shepard, said today:

“I’m not the hero type. I know I’m going to be scared when I get in that capsule.”

But Grissom—married with two schoolboy sons—added: “I can also remember worrying a bit, as a boy, before I took my first swim in a stone quarry . . .”