Scrapbook 1: Feb 1962 — John Glenn, transcript

Transcript

CAPE CANAVERAL (AP)—U.S. space agency officials released the following transcript of conversations with John H. Glenn Jr. during his orbital flight. Some purely technical conversations have been eliminated.

Glenn: Five-four-three-two-one-zero, liftoff. The clock is operating. We are under way. Roger. Read you loud and clear. Roger.

Mercury Control: We are programing . . . Okay.

Glenn: It is a little bumpy along about here. Roger.

MC: Flight path is good.

Glenn: Checks okay. Minus 7, on your mark.

MC: Roger. Reading you clear, John.

Glenn: Coming into high gear a little bit. A little contrail went by the window or something. Roger. 102 . . . 101 . . . Oxygen 78 . . . 101 . . . Still okay. We are . . . out some now, getting out of the vibration area.

MC: Flight path very good.

Glenn: Pitch four three. Coming out real fine. Flight very smooth now.

MC: Roger. Flight path is good.

Glenn: Cabin pressure is holding at six one. Okay. Have had some oscillations, but they seem to be damped.

Glenn: The clock two minutes. G’s are building to six.

MC: Roger. Reading you loud and clear. Flight path looks good, Pitch 25. Standby for action.

Glenn: BECO. BECO (booster engines cut off). I see the tower go. I saw the smoke go by the window.

MC: Roger. We confirm staging TM (telemetry).

Glenn: Roger. Still have about 1½ G’s . . . The tower went right then. I have the tower in sight way out.

MC: Roger, we confirm on 5. Tower is green.

Glenn: 1½ G’s.

MC: Flight path looks good.

Glenn: Retro jettisoned. Emergency retro jettison slips off.

MC: Flight path looks good.

Glenn: The steering is good.

MC: Roger. Understand everything looks good.

Glenn: G’s starting to build again . . . Roger Bermuda, stand by. This Friendship 7.

MC: Roger. Reading you loud and clear. Flight path looks good.

MC: Roger. Reading you loud and clear. Cape is go. We are standing by for you.

Glenn: Roger, Cape is go and I am go.

Glenn: All systems go. Cabin pressure holding steady. All systems are go.

MC: Roger. Twenty seconds . . . Flight path looks very good. Ten seconds, flight path still looks good.

Glenn: Roger. SECO (sustainer engines cut off) . . . Grade fired okay.

MC: Roger. Standby.

Glenn: Roger. Zero G’s and I feel fine. Capsule is turning around. Oh, that view is tremendous.

MC: Roger.

Glenn: Turnaround has started: Capsule turning around and I can see the booster doing turnarounds just a couple of hundred yards behind. It looks beautiful

MC: Roger. Seven. You have a go of at least seven orbits.

Glenn: Roger. Understand go for at least seven orbits.

(Glenn tape recorded conversation with astronaut Gordon Cooper as the Friendship 7 spacecraft passed over Australia).

Glenn: Hello, Coop, this is Friendship 7 reading you loud and clear.

Cooper: Roger, Friendship 7, this is Coop. Over.

Glenn: We are doing real fine up here. Everything is going real well. Over.

Cooper: Very good, John. You sound good.

Glenn: All systems are still go, having no problems at all. Control system operating fine. Over.

Cooper: Do you have any landmark observations?

Glenn: Roger. I was just making some for the recorder, and the only unusual thing I have noticed was the rather high, what appeared to be a haze layer up some 7 or 8 degrees above the horizon on the night side, the stars I can see through it as they go down toward the real horizon, but it is a very visible single band, or layer or . . . above the normal horizon. Over.

Cooper: Roger, very interesting.

Glenn: I had a lot of cloud cover coming off of Africa. It has thinned out considerably now, and although I cannot definitely see . . . there is a lot of moonlight here that reflects off of what clouds there are. Over.

Cooper: Roger . . . and excellent, John . . . Shortly you may observe some lights down there. Do you want to take a check on that, to your right? Over.

Glenn: Roger. I am all set to see if I can get them in sight.

Cooper: You did have your visor closed?

Glenn: I did have it opened for a little while. It is closed now. Cabin pressure is holding in good shape. Over . . . I feel fine. Over.

Cooper: Good show.

Glenn: Relay inverter is 180 degrees. It looks like it has done pretty well.

Cooper: It looks like it is holding out fine.

Glenn: That was sure a short day. That was about the shortest day I have ever run into.

Cooper: Time passes rapidly, eh?

Glenn: Yes, sir.

Cooper: Okay. Do you have any landmark observations to make.

Glenn: I have a . . . picking up some of the star patterns better than I was just off Africa.

Glenn: Just to my right I can see a big pattern of light, apparently right on the coast. I can see . . . and a very bright light just to the south of it.

Cooper: That is Perth and Rockingham you see there.

Glenn: The lights show very well . . . On down to the south and inland I can see lights. There two, actually four, patterns in that area. Also coming into sight in the window now another one, almost down under me. The lights are very clear from up here.

Cooper: Roger, John. Good. Friendship 7, we have your blood pressure . . .

Glenn: This is Friendship 7. I have had no ill effects at all yet from any . . . is still excellent . . . no nausea or discomfort whatsoever.

(The following is a transcript of recordings made during the pass of the spacecraft across the southern United States during the first orbit.)

Astronaut Alan Shepard in the Control Center: Friendship 7, this is Canaveral.

Glenn: Friendship 7 to Canaveral. Read you loud and clear. Over.

Shepard: Roger, Friendship 7, read you loud and clear, standby for . . . please.

Glenn: Roger.

Shepard: Frienship 7, this is Cap Com. Would you give us the difficulty you were having in the yaw? Over.

Glenn: Roger. This is Friendship 7. I am going on fly by wire so I can control more accurately. It just started as I got to Guaymas and it appears to drift off to the right about one degree per second. It would go over to an altitude of about 20 degrees, then hold, and then when it hits at about a 20 degree point it then goes into orientation mode and comes back to zero and it was cycling back and forth in that mode. I am on fly-by-wire now; I am controlling manually. Over.

Shepard: Roger. Understand.

Glenn: This is Friendship 7. What appears to have happened is I believe I have one pound thrust in left yaw, so it drifts over out of limits and then hits it with the high thrust.

Shepard: Roger, Friendship 7, we concur here. Recommend you remain fly-by wire.

Glenn: Roger, am remaining fly-by wire.

Shepard: Roger, Friendship 7, we are having a little difficulty. Start off on your 30-minute report.

Glenn: This is Friendship 7, controlling manually by fly-by wire. Having no trouble controlling. It controls very nicely.

Shepard: Roger.

Glenn: Fly-by wire auto gyro is normal . . . I have a beautiful view out of the window of the coast at the present time. Can see away down across Florida. Cannot quite see the Cape yet.

Shepard: Roger. Still reading.

Glenn: Cabin pressure 55 and holding nicely. Cabin air is 95. Temperature is 67 on the suit. The only real unusual thing so far beside ASCS trouble were the little particles, luminous particles around the capsule—just thousands of them over the Pacific. Over.

Shepard: Roger. We have all of that. It looks like you are in good shape. Remain on fly-by wire for the moment.

Excerpts of the recording of the spacecraft as it passed over the Canary Islands and the African coast, communicating with ground stations below.

Glenn: This is Friendship 7. My status is excellent. I have control of capsule on fly-by wire at present time . . . Over. Have Cape Verde Islands in sight off my left. Over.

Ground: Roger, understand. Friendship 7, your medical status is excellent.

Glenn: Roger. Friendship 7, the sun is coming through the window and is very warm where it hits the suit. I get quite a bit of heat from it.

Excerpts of the recordings of Glenn exchanges with his fellow astronauts, Walter Schirra at Point Arguello, Cal., and Shepard at Cape Canaveral.

Glenn: All systems are still go. I had some erratic ASCS operation and I caged and uncaged on the night side and it appears to be working very well now, although I was drifting again in roll a moment ago. It appears to have corrected itself in roll, however, without me caging again now . . .

Ground: Apparently it is more difficult to pick up drift than I thought it would be. Your best bet is to look out the window and try and get something moving away from you out the window.

Glenn: Roger. I got you there.

(Here is an excerpt of a conversation between Glenn and the Bermuda tracking station)

Glenn: Friendship 7. I have the Cape (Canaveral) in sight. I can see the whole state of Florida just laid out like a map. Beautiful. I can still see clear back to the Mississippi Delta . . . And it looks very good down that way. It looks like we will have no problem on recovery.

WASHINGTON (AP)—Following is the text of a telephone conversation between President Kennedy, speaking from the White House, and astronaut John H. Glenn Jr., aboard the destroyer Noa:

Mr. Kennedy: Hello?

Glenn: Hello, sir.

Mr. Kennedy: Colonel?

Glenn: This is Col. Glenn.

Mr. Kennedy: Listen, Colonel, we are really proud of you, and I must say you did a wonderful job.

Glenn: Thank you, Mr. President.

Mr. Kennedy: We are glad you got down in good shape. I have just been watching your father and mother on television, and they seem very happy

Glenn: It was a wonderful trip—almost unbelievable thinking back on it right now. But it was really tremendous.

Mr. Kennedy: Well, I am coming down to Canaveral on Friday, and hope you will come up to Washington on Monday or Tuesday, and I will be looking forward to seeing you there.

Glenn: Fine, I will certainly look forward to it.

CAPE CANAVERAL (UPI)—Thousands of well-wishers from all around the nation gathered around America’s portal to space when John Glenn Jr. carried out his epoch-making orbital flight three limes around the earth.

Some in this big rooting section yelled encouragement as the astronaut’s mighty rocket thundered into a cloudless sky. Others gasped their appreciation of the spectacle. Still others stood in mute amazement.

On a hard-packed stretch of beach several miles south of the launch site, there blossomed on the eve of the flight a small village of automobiles, trailers and bunk-equipped trucks.

Some spectators caught some pre-firing rest in sleeping bags. Others huddled around campfires, drinking coffee and passing the time in conversation.

Teen-agers, freed by a relaxation of parental rules, spent the pre-dawn hours acting like teen-agers. Portable and automobile radios blared twist music to the beat of the surf.

License plates were here from New England and New York, the Midwest, the Far West and from all parts of the Southeast.

Some of the spectators were vacationers whose time off fortunately coincided with the much-delayed space shot. Others were retired people, some of whom had spent long weeks here waiting for the big day.

Those who could wangle motel rooms in “Missiletown” rose early and walked to the beach with binoculars, sandwiches and other paraphernalia needed to watch the big missile take off.

During the waiting period, children of all sizes gathered shells, waded at surf’s edge, chased each other through the sand.

This ebb and flow to the beach had been going on since early December, when the Glenn shot was first scheduled. It reached its height when word went out late Monday that everything was in “go” condition.

After Glenn’s spacecraft disappeared at the end of a curling white vapor trail, the birdwatchers strolled quietly off beaches, leaving them virtually deserted.

The cluster of temporary quarters faded from view like a nomad camp.

Most of the spectators headed for television sets to watch coverage of the remainder of the trip.

RINGSIDE SEATS—Crowds on the beach several miles south of Cape Canaveral watch the Atlas rocket (arrow) carrying astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. leave the launching pad. —UPI Photo

SPACE hero John Glenn told a Congressional committee in Washington yesterday about his religious faith. He said:

“My peace has been made with my Maker for a number of years.

It would be foolish to assert that God could be pin-pointed in Space.

Just because I have ridden above the atmosphere, I don’t know the nature of God any more than anyone else.

I cannot say that while I was in orbit I prayed. I was pretty busy.

People in the past have tried to put words in my mouth on this subject.

I feel every man should live his life as though every day might be his last.

My religion is not of the fire-engine type to be called on only in an emergency.“

REPORT FROM SPACE—Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. speaks to naval officers aboard the carrier Randolph about his orbit flight. —UPI