you
welcome to this edition of the
astronauts I'm Lynn Bondurant during
this program we will relive the historic
spaceflight of John Glenn in 1962 a
mercury spacecraft was launched into
orbit called friendship 7 this mercury
spacecraft carried Glenn around earth
three times now for our program got the
grant yeah
started
picked me back up
look real good from here 70 seconds
leaving a nice paper trail now looks
real fine butch good Becky 80 seconds
wood looks real trick from him
85
bye
I five power going out going I go
capsule is in good shape still a 103-102
oxygen 478 100 gallon freezer holding
steady at 58 answers 6 all systems are
go seek our sustainer engine cutoff the
moment when the final Atlas engine will
shut down when friendship 7 should
separate from the booster rocket and
begin orbital flight go father creates
fired okay writers they r ok and I feel
fine caps with turning around oh that
view is tremendous
to John Glenn now belongs an awesome
panorama the world curving beneath him
justice' with film from an earlier
Mercury capsule I could save a bastard
very dirty rear delt a couple hundred
yard behind me it was beautiful
go
clear pack of 6 cloud fought her way
back across Georgia team beautiful sight
zhe I have nothing very fine feeling it
just feels very normal and very good
Roger friendship seven Algie look for
Mira Costa real good save a surgery for
Tony okay old system okay good voice
contact both ways Roger friendship seven
a new report on control system checks
not yet everything appears to be going
okay I'm now on the offer a check we are
right on schedule very good very good so
distributing you're cutting out on UHF
can we go to hf Roger join bridge up to
review the Capcom on here Richie up
seven projector
rich chips I'm gonna read you a very
weak give you status on control system
check
going across
I'll be over this is a tunnel Capcom I
read you loud and clear how do you read
me over what is your status over
Roger I monitored part of your
controller canary and heard your
comments on the weather or Africa we had
dusty weather here
hardly to see a lot of this part of
Africa scared of death
Roger will you give us a status report
over
Roger do you understand by 4 retro
sequence time area one child
persephone you are fading rapidly
across Africa races friendship seven at
17,500 45 miles an hour 300 miles a
minute for miles for every heartbeat of
John Glenn
friendship seven squeaks through the
night of tomorrow and races toward the
dawn of yesterday above the Indian Ocean
flashes friendship seven far beyond
human sight seen only by the electronic
instruments of the coastal country as
she records the lightning passage of the
man in space
for John Glenn the familiar time
references of Earth no longer applies
for he journeys around our world in just
88 minutes out racing the Sun that needs
24 hours to circle the same globe
mrs. Boucher can't take friendships
element is Roger friendship seven ish a
Capcom a real fine up here everything is
going very well very good John short day
time and is rapidly shortly may observe
life down here you want to take a check
on I'll be right over I'm all set to see
if I can't get them in sight all right
here I any sense of vertigo and all
these all I feel fine over show a white
insight on the ground over our
understand they're just off to your
right there is just a my right eye can
see a big
right apparently right on the coast
clock
the town in the south Roger that's worth
your while thank everybody for coming
apart will you are are you sure well
John
you have a chance could you give us a
particle that i can buy coming around
the capsule occasionally over
Roger how big are these particles over
there of the sixteenth of an aunt who is
followed by the window and I can see
them against the dark sky just at
sunrise there were literally thousands
oh no they look like a myriad of stars
LOL loss of signal guaymas has lost
contact and friendship seven streaks
home and unseen comics darting across
the land minor trouble aboard friendship
seven report a malfunction in the
automatic control system was causing the
spacecraft to your in skid like fashion
away from as proper flight attitude but
Glenn is overriding the faulty system
and now manually controlled friendship
seven on fly-by-wire directing its
movements by hand control much like a
pilot
when we have a telemetry solid and check
all your systems out okay
we want you to start the pre dark side
that sequester so as usual
precious therapist is a cop take white
supremacist me they can take Billy
seven a Capcom will you confirm that
your landing bang switch is in the off
position over position all right he ever
did any of banging noises or hang of
this five-day fire rate they want this
after last behind that routine report
the first hint of potential disaster it
came when astronaut Cooper relayed a
request from mercury control asking
Glenn to check the status lights for the
capsules landing impact bag clean report
status normal but ground stations are
now receiving an ominous chilling signal
an indication that the heat shield on
friendship seven seems to have come
loose friendship seven this is
California compact California caramel
cake do you read over
when he kept car with the language on
writing a much better now are you very
good come here a bed to real happy with
you look real good up there all right
let's go by this time we'll see you next
time around this is my can control we
now have a contact with our wireless
Mexico station and with the Corpus
Christi Texas charging station the
friendship 7 spacecraft is now committed
to its third orbit this is mercury
control in mercury control at Cape
Canaveral a decision must be made and
soon the signal pulsing down from
friendship 7 indicates still that the
heat shield is loose could the signal be
erroneous there is no way to tell but if
it's true then John Glenn could perish
in a searing Inferno when he plunges
back into the atmosphere the
retrorockets that slowed the spacecraft
and headed back toward Earth are
strapped over the shield if they were
left on after retrofire instead of being
jettisoned as in normal reentry then
their straps might hold the shield in
place before they burn off they might
possibly save Glenn from the 3,000
degrees of re-entry heat until he's deep
enough into the atmosphere for its force
to hold the shield in place what the
decision must be made soon even now
Glenn is streaking toward the United
States and he must begin the retro
sequence 300 miles west of California if
he's to land in the planned recovery
area 700 miles south and east of Florida
will give you the countdown for reckless
a question you look good all right we
only have 50 seconds to retrograde over
that's affirm Oh give you a part of 45
for California this is Kate white okay
but we'd like to leave the package on at
least through Texas so keep telling his
peaches retro jettison switch off your
leisure
pack on through your past over Texas
writer barbaric Oh Roger baby are they
ever it feels like I'm going back turn
away that you want to go to East Coast
the right here my retro light is green
writing red roses stop 500 I take your
retro pack on until you pass Texas
what's good while he will see you Becky
Texas Capcom flight
for this reason over all riders they
attend your instructions please over
alright alright
all right you understand i will have to
make a male to fight the entry when it
occurred and the briga scope in manually
a firm alrighty redirecting scope
manually with the retro package on he
noticed alia to stop in that pack of
reaction you're now Roger understand
all right by your crap you're going out
all contact with John Glenn and bunch of
seven is lost I think the fact it go
now
the furnace light heat of reentry has
created a barrier of ionization around
friendship 7 holding all voice
communication
alone he plunges back to order of fiery
meteorite
now keep rigid salmon over
keep it 70 receive over the thickening
atmosphere breaks his descent slowing
friendship 7 from 17,500 miles an hour
to 1300 miles an hour in slightly over
three minutes and the forces of gravity
slam against John Glenn until he weighs
eight times his normal weight
okay princess panettiere came over
7's escape test may find your ID is
within one mile of the upper age
destroyer voice call is steelhead
steelhead is the code name for the
destroyer Noah waiting to recover
friendship 7 but John Glenn cannot hear
the message 443 clay never spot on time
keep talking out loud how you doing
seven going to throw early it's a rocky
rocky mountain drove him out Roger
trophy on a 30 thousand in about a 90
creo Roger drop looks good Scott did not
come out right here pumping this girl
all right you re entry cichlid complete
Fanny Pfeiffer man
coming down on dance circles are open
new doctrine Judith out in Reese
conditioner 10,800 seated beautiful
it looks good I know to emergency and
then she very good real estate has
gone to about 42 feet per second they
shoot looks very good
hello mercury recovery this is pretty
hip 70 right here still here friendship
seven but he looks very good over
home is the Voyager
behind a journey of eighty-one thousand
miles through three days and three
nights in just four hours and 56 minutes
at three or four p.m. eastern standard
time friendship seven comes to rest
aboard the United States destroyer Noah
and John Glenn returns to the people of
Earth a change of clothes a breath of
cool air a short debrief then Glenn
leaves the Noah heading for the aircraft
carrier Randolph under the golden
splendor of his fourth sunset of the day
John Glenn's historic spaceflight paved
the way for others to follow thank you
for joining us for this edition of the
astronauts I'm Lynn Bondurant at the
NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland
Ohio
you