Scrapbook 1: Feb 1962 — John Glenn

RUNNING COMMENTARY FROM OUTER SPACE

From Our Own Correspondent, Washington, Feb. 20

The huge Atlas D missile was launched from Cape Canaveral at 9.47 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (14.47 G.M.T.) The first orbit was completed as 11.20; the second at 12.54; and, after discussion between Colonel Glenn and the Mercury control centre, it was decided that a third orbit should be made.

This was the maximum distance envisaged and the decision was taken in spite of “minor difficulties” reported by the astronaut soon after he began the second orbit.

The trouble was in the attitude control system, which functioned imperfectly when manually operated. However, Colonel Glenn was still able to control the craft with an alternative semi-manual system.

Colonel Glenn’s day had begun at 2 a.m. with a breakfast of eggs, steak, orange juice, toast, and coffee substitute. Just after 6 o’clock, clad in his silvery space suit, he climbed smilingly into the capsule perched some 80ft. above the ground on top of the Atlas D missile. The long count-down proceeded with interruptions here and there for technical adjustments, all of which turned out to be minor—a broken bolt, a brief electrical failure, a fault in the radar system—but the early-morning sky was overcast and a delay might have been necessary in any case.

FINAL FAULT

With the count-down at T minus 22 minutes (22 minutes before launching) a fault developed in the liquid oxygen fuelling system and for several minutes the prospect was uncertain. Soon, however, all was well again. Cold air from the north had dispersed the low cloud cover, the astronaut reported that his capsule was ready and in the terminology of space men, “all systems were go”.

Relentlessly the count-down reached zero. A two or three second pause for ignition, and then at 9.47, with a shattering roar, the 95ft. structure rose majestically from the pad, its white-hot exhaust flames scaring the sky.

The Atlas, which has not been the most reliable rocket in the past, performed perfectly today. Colonel Glenn maintained a continuous conversation with the Mercury control centre on the ground, where Commander Alan Shepard, America’s first astronaut, was talking to him. One minute after lift-off Colonel John Powers, of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, relayed Colonel Glenn’s report that all was well in spite of some vibration.

The astronaut’s voice was heard over public address systems within two or three minutes—a flood of technical checks of fuel, telemetry, cabin pressure and other data. As he swept towards the so-called “keyhole in the sky”, through which he had to pass if orbit was to be achieved, he reported the various events of the flight, the booster fell away, the capsule separated from the rocket and swung round so that the blunt end of the cone faced forward. Then came the crucial announcement, 13 minutes after launch, that he had become the first American to go into orbit.

The capsule was then travelling at 17,545 miles an hour in an orbit whose perigee (nearest point to earth) was about 100 miles and whose apogee (farthest point from earth) was about 160 miles.

The two most difficult operations of the flight—launching and orbit—had been achieved, and the relief of all concerned could be detected.

FOOD OVER NIGERIA

The stream of information from Colonel Glenn continued, interspersed with comments about the beautiful views. Contact was reported from Bermuda; the Canary Islands (“I am very comfortable . . . the horizon is a brilliant blue”); Kano, Nigeria (where he ate his first food); a ship in the Indian Ocean (“I am doing very well up here . . . no trouble at all”); and Muchea, Australia (where he saw “very bright lights”, identified for him as Perth). “Thank everybody for turning them on, will you?” he asked his colleague Gordon Cooper on the ground. “Roger, I will”, came the reply,

Woomera, Australia, was obscured by clouds but he was reported to be in “completely normal” condition. By 11.09 he was in touch with the station at Guaymas, Mexico, and although the cabin temperature had risen from 105° to 108°, this was not considered a matter of concern. As he approached the coast of the United States he reported luminous particles passing his window in the sunrise.

The second orbit began when the capsule passed over Bermuda again and, in spite of the minor trouble with the attitude controls, all was well. His condition was reported to be “excellent” and his attitude “good”. Colonel Powers declared: “He is working hard as a test pilot”. High winds in the Indian Ocean prevented the launching of high-intensity flares, which it was hoped he would see, but this did not interfere with his progress. By 12.54 the second orbit was over.

Commander Shepard, at the Mercury control system, greeted Colonel Glenn at 12.56 with “Good afternoon, Seven”, and the third orbit proceeded much as its predecessors until 2.20. At this point, over the west coast of the United States, another crucial stage of the flight was successfully executed—the firing of the retro-rockets to slow down the capsule before it reentered the earth’s atmosphere.

HATCH BLOWN

Direct communication with the capsule was briefly lost as it reentered the atmosphere because of an ionization process, but beacon signals were received. The drogue parachute opened to retard the capsule further and then the main parachute billowed out to lower Colonel Glenn into the sea, where he landed at 2.43.

The flight had thus taken four hours 56 minutes but it was another 22 minutes before those watching were able to breathe entirely freely. The capsule landed in the south Atlantic some 200 miles north-west of Puerio Rico, six miles from the nearest ship, the Noa; he was eventually hoisted on to her deck.

There were two minor hitches during the flight. The first concerned what seemed to be a faulty signal indicating that the heat shield had become separated from the capsule during re-entry, and the retro-pack was therefore retained in position to hold the heat shield for longer than would have otherwise been done.

The second hitch concerned Colonel Glenn’s egress from the capsule after it had been picked up. It had been decided in advance that if possible he should come out through the narrow neck of the cone-shaped capsule to avoid, if possible, the slight warping effect which would result from blowing off the hatch. However he had difficulty in trying to remove part of the instrument panel to come out through the neck and the bolts of the hatch were blown to get him out quickly.

CAPE CANAVERAL, Wednesday Morning.—A helicopter took Colonel Glenn to Grand Turk island, where he landed at about 2 a.m. G.M.T.—Reuter.

Moscow, Feb. 20.—The Soviet news agency Tass reported Colonel Glenn’s space flight in its Russian service some 34 minutes after the launching at Cape Canaveral.—Reuter

THE QUEEN’S MESSAGE

The Queen last night sent a message of congratulation to President Kennedy, It read:—

“On behalf of my peoples throughout the Commonwealth, I send you my warmest congratulations on Colonel Glenn’s historic achievement.”

The Prime Minister last night sent a telegram to President Kennedy congratulating him and Colonel Glenn on the achievement.

THE KISS..

THE KISS that says: “Well done, John” . . . from Glenn’s wife Anna. Later, at a Press conference, the Space conqueror introduced his wife as “the real power and brain in my household.”

Parade, Crowds to Greet Astronaut in New York

NEW YORK (AP)—Ticker tape, water salutes from fireboats, school-free youngsters, city officials and thousands of citizens will be welcoming America’s spacemen to New York City Thursday.

Guest of honor, of course, is Lt Col John H. Glenn Jr., the the nation’s first astronaut to circle the globe.

With him are his six fellow astronauts of the Project Mercury program and members of their families.

Details of the welcome—which city officials think may well be the greatest of its type ever staged here—were disclosed at a news conference.

The Board of Education said it will give a holiday to children attending schools near the routes which the spacemen will travel in a 26-car motorcade which will roll slowly through the canyons of lower Broadway for New York’s traditional ticker tape shower for highly honored guests.

Awaiting spacemen on the steps of city hall will be Mayor and Mrs. Robert F. Wagner.

Glenn also has been invited to visit the United Nations during his New York visit. The invitation was extended by U Thant, acting secretary general.

By RONALD BEDFORD

AMERICA launched a new rocket last night—in an attempt to land an instrument on the moon.

The gold-plated Spaceship—Ranger IV—was blasted off by a two-decker Atlas-Agena rocket.

Soon it was streaking at 24,500 m.p.h. on its 60-hour journey.

The Ranger is expected to reach the moon on Thursday.

It has two missions:—

1. To take pictures of the moon every […] seconds as it […]

2. To […] […] […] surface.

This “igloo” is […] to measure moonquakes—the lunar equivalent of earthquakes—and to […] temperature.