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ANNOUNCER: The Shirley Temple program
usually seen at this time

will not be presented

in order that we may bring
you the following special broadcast.

Official YIFY movies site:
YTS.MX

We have interrupted this program

for a special broadcast
from Cape Canaveral.

RENICK: May 5th, 1961, certainly a day
to be entered in the history books.

Although the astronaut launch
is being seen close up

and live on television screens,

hundreds of persons traveled
to Cocoa Beach to see with their own eyes

at long distance, the streak of flame
as the Redstone heads skyward.

CRONKITE: I don't know any words
for this except the trite ones.

Tension is mounting here
at Cape Canaveral.

RENICK: The world watches with interest.

The public has no trouble feeling concern
for the man who lies on his back

at the nose end of a Redstone missile.

Somehow, this doesn't seem to be the place
for a human being.

GLENN: We're looking at this as
eventually a big exploration.

We hope to lay the foundation

for much broader exploration
in the future.

MCGEE: I'm sure you've given some thought
to the possibility that

this flight may not turn out well
and that you may not come back.

TROUT: One man, backed up
by a team of 10,000,

backed up by the most elaborate devices
that science can invent.

But still, one man, alone, in a tiny shell
on top of a rocket.

When we asked NASA for some pictures
of the original American astronauts,

John Glenn and the six others chosen
in 1959 for Project Mercury,

look what we got.

The Seven in their spacesuits
as formal as a class picture

or a management training group.

But these, too, are the men
who are going to fly off into space

and catch us up with the Russians
and win the Cold War

against Sputnik with their hair down
and their burnouses up

after four days of survival training
in the desert.

What were the astronauts?

Tall in-the-capsule superheroes
or just a bunch of regular fighter jocks?

Well, writer Tom Wolfe has spent a number
of years now looking into their story

and he has written it into a book called,
The Right Stuff.

It's not the kind of story that we heard
at the time from the space managers

and from the politicians,
or even from the American press.

Tom Wolfe, nice to have you
with us this morning.

-Tom, good to see you.
-Uh, were we in need of heroes

when these astronauts came along?

Is that why we were so eager
to build them up into kind of false gods?

Right now, it's so hard to remember
what a... how seriously the Cold War

was taken back in the... in the late '50s.

(COUNTDOWN IN RUSSIAN)

(SPUTNIK LAUNCHES)

You are the first Americans
to see this launching of Sputnik 1

from the desert of Kyzylkum,
in the Soviet Union.

("NAME THAT TUNE" THEME MUSIC PLAYS)

DEWITT: And now back tonight and trying
for 20,000 dollars are Eddie Hodges,

the ten-year-old schoolboy,
and his partner, Major John Glenn, Jr.,

the Marine Corps jet pilot.

Uh, what do you think
of the Russian satellite,

which is circling the earth
at 18,000 miles per hour?

It's the first time anybody has ever been
able to get anything out that far

in space and keep it there
for any length of time.

And this is probably the first step
toward space travel or moon travel,

something we'll probably run into
maybe in Eddie's lifetime here at least.

DEWITT: (CHUCKLES) Eddie, would you like
to take a trip to the moon?

No, sir, I like it fine right here.

(AUDIENCE LAUGHS)

REPORTER: Democrat Senator Jackson
of Washington describes

the Russian achievement as a devastating
blow to the prestige of The United States.

As the satellite travels around the world
once every hour and a half,

its radio transmitters,
powered by chemical batteries,

that are apparently sending back
coded messages to the Russians.

(RAPID FREQUENCIES)

REPORTER: The White House sizes
up the situation this way,

The launching of Russia's
and the world's first

artificial moon is of great scientific
interest but comes as no surprise.

REPORTER: General, are you awed
by the Russian accomplishment

with this big Sputnik?

MEDARIS: You're only awed
by the things that you don't understand

or don't believe someone can do.

REPORTER: In other words, we know what
they had to know to do this?

-Certainly, we know it.
-REPORTER: Why haven't we done it?

Well, we got started late.

We didn't get about the job
as early as we might have.

Now we have to work
like blazes to catch up.

It means they're getting ahead of us
and we certainly need to...

start working hard to catch up.

I think it's about time America woke up
and did something about it.

There was a sense in this country
that it was all important...

to catch up with the Russians in space.

John McCormick, who was then the Speaker
of the House of Representatives,

was getting up and saying
we face national extinction

if we do not catch up with the Russians.

WALLACE: In desperation, the United States
looked to the Vanguard.

Nearly 200 newsmen
from all over the world were flown down

for the big turkey shoot.

At the launching site, they were given
a play-by-play account.

They witnessed each tiny detail
of the usually top-secret preparation.

And inside the block house,
the tension steadily mounted.

(ROCKET BLAST)

(EXPLOSION)

WALLACE: America's prestige had
never been lower than at this moment,

11:45 a.m., December 6, 1957.

There is a tremendous gap
between promise and performance.

I believe the American people
want action...

(EXPLOSION)

JOHNSON: ...and are demanding that
we get going with our program.

Public opinion in the civilized world
has grown accustomed to

fast scientific progress.

Already, the idea of Sputnik whirling
through space has become accepted

and people are saying, "What comes next?
What comes after Sputnik? After Vanguard?"

Well, the next step has been planned
for a long time. It is a manned satellite.

WOLFE: Catch up on all fronts.
That was the imperative.

So a so-called quick and dirty approach
was seized upon.

They would try to launch not a flying ship

but a pod, a container,
a capsule... with a man in it.

The man would not be a pilot.

He would be a human cannonball.

He would not be able to alter the course
of the capsule in the slightest.

The job was assigned to NACA,

the National Advisory Committee
for Aeronautics,

which was converted into NASA.

We will be developing and launching
into space,

vehicles needed to obtain scientific data
and to explore the solar system.

N.A.S.A. will have
about 300 million dollars

for its program in fiscal 1959,

and with this appropriation,
we must press forward

the current research programs
in our laboratories.

We must contract for work by others
in such fields as electronics and guidance

and other areas where we have
neither the special competence,

nor the facilities that are needed.

We must accelerate
our development programs.

We must acquire the vehicles that
will carry our data-gathering apparatus,

and ultimately man, into space.

The program to pick the
first man to American to try to pilot

a rocket into orbit in space has begun.

U.S. space chief T. Keith Glennan
announced tonight

the American manned satellite program
will be called Project Mercury,

its pilots will be known as
Mercury Aeronauts,

and one of their number, all volunteers,

will make the first spaceflight.

Two months before the astronauts
were chosen they were still considering

using racing car drivers,
mountain climbers, scuba divers,

infantry men, anybody who had faced
stress and dangerous situations

successfully would be allowed
to apply for astronaut

because there wasn't any flying
to be done.

Finally, Eisenhower decided,
"Well, hell, we've got 500 test pilots

"in the military. We can call them
to Washington tomorrow."

So let's get them from this
group of people we can totally control

and get on with it.

So they bring in these test pilots.

KRAMER: From all of the active duty pilots
in the Navy, Marines, and Air Force,

the service records of 473 test pilots
were selected for review.

110 met the basic qualifications.

The Right Stuff is both
a code of behavior and a mystical belief.

As test pilots, you have to be willing
to go up and hang your mortal hide out

over the edge and then have the experience
and the moxie and the talent

to pull it back in,
and then go up the next day

and the next day and the next day
and the next day, even,

uh, the series is infinite.

(CRASH AND EXPLOSION)

NASA OFFICIAL:
Phase two of the selection program

was a very thorough physical examination.

And the men continued on
to the third phase.

This phase involved exposure
to the acceleration, lowered pressure,

noise, and other stresses expected
in space flight.

WRIGHT: At a Washington news conference,
officials introduced seven carefully

chosen military test pilots
as America's first spacemen.

REPORTER:
How are the kids' appetites tonight?

Probably pretty good.

REPORTER: Better than usual
or worse than usual?

Well, probably a little bit, uh, they'll,
uh, be too excited.

Maybe they won't eat
as much as they usually do.

REPORTER: Well, this is supposed
to have been a very tightly kept secret.

How... how did you begin
to suspect something?

Well, listening to the news.

MCCORMICK: Well, all seven of the men
are officers and test pilots.

Three Air Force, three Navy,
and one Marine. All are volunteers.

Doctor T. Keith Glennan,
National Aeronautical

and Space administrator introduced
them this afternoon at a news conference.

Which of these men will be first
to orbit the Earth, I cannot tell you.

He won't know himself
until the day of the flight.

It's my pleasure to introduce... to you,

and I consider it a very real honor,
gentlemen...

from your right, Malcolm S. Carpenter,

Leroy G. Cooper, John H. Glenn,

Virgil I. Grissom,

Walter M. Schirra,

Alan B. Shepard, Donald K. Slayton.

These, ladies, and gentlemen,
are the nation's Mercury astronauts.

(APPLAUSE)

The question everybody wants to ask,
"What do the wives and children

"of these men think of their ambitions
to go into space?"

My wife's attitude toward this
has been the same as it has been

all along through all my flying,
that, uh...

if it's what I want to do
and she's behind it

and the kids are, too, a 100 percent.

Well, my wife feels the same way or,
of course, I couldn't be here.

And she's, uh, with me all the way
and the boys are too little to, uh,

realize what's going on yet,
but I'm sure they'd feel the same way.

My wife has agreed that professional
opinions are mine, career's mine,

but we also have to have a family life

that we like and this is part
of the agreement.

I have no problems at home.
My family's in complete agreement.

(ALL LAUGH)

John Glenn was actually
unique among the seven

in terms of his personality.

I'm John Glenn,
I'm the lonesome Marine on this outfit

and I'm, uh, 37. I, jokingly, uh,
of course, said that, uh,

I got on this project
because it'd probably be the nearest

to heaven I'd ever get, and I wanted
to make the most of it.

-(ALL LAUGH)
-But, uh...

my feelings are that this whole project
with regard to... to space sort of stands

with us now as... as if you wanna look
at it one way,

like the Wright brothers stood
at Kitty Hawk about 50 years ago.

WOLFE: At the very first press conference
John Glenn proved

to be the most articulate of the seven.

My wife made a remark the other day,
I've been out of this world

for a long time I might as well
go on out there.

(ALL LAUGH)

GLENNAN: Next question, please.

WOLFE: He had a kind of countrified
sophistication, if you will,

and he had a great freckle-faced smile
and was just great at handling

what we now call the media.

GLENNAN: The question is, "Would the, uh,
gentlemen, uh, like to, uh...

"say which, which test, uh,
they liked least?"

(ALL LAUGH)

Johnny Glenn, uh, you... you answer

and then we'll start this way
and around that way.

That's a real tough one
because we had some pretty good tests,

but I... I think, uh, it's rather
difficult to pick one, because if the...

if you figure how many openings
there are on the human body

and how far you can go in any one of them.

(ALL LAUGH)

-SCHIRRA: You gave it away.
-(LAUGHTER CONTINUES)

Now... Now ,you answer which one would
be the toughest for you.

(ALL LAUGH)

WOLFE: So, after this one man, Glenn,
who's so articulate starts

saying all these things about God,
country, family, all the rest,

immediately there's the picture
of seven astronauts

as these sort of God-fearing,
small town family men.

And the rest of them were stuck with it.

They either had a choice
of raising their hands and saying,

"Now wait a minute, I...
I don't really go on with that,

"I don't think you have
to be all that faithful to your wife

"and your children and the church,"

or else doing the wise thing
and saying, "Me, too."

I'm not real active in the church as, uh,

Mr. Glenn is, but, uh, I consider myself
a good Christian still.

REPORTER: Mrs. Grissom,
did you have any indication that

-anything was going on before today?
-I had a pretty good idea.

REPORTER: Have you had time to decide
how you feel about it?

Well, I don't know yet.

REPORTER: Have the kids
in the neighborhood

been asking you about this?

No, not yet, but my teacher called
a little while ago and...

and she said congratulations.

REPORTER: Do you think this is gonna
make you a big man around town?

SCOTT: Mm-hmm. (LAUGHS)

REPORTER: How does the wife
of a spaceman feel about the possibility

of so great an adventure?

Well, we're not oblivious
to the dangers involved,

but, uh, I would like to go along with him
if I could and so would the boys.

WRIGHT: After rigorous training,
one of these men will ride

a Project Mercury space capsule
around the Earth in a 125-mile high orbit

before retro rockets slow the capsule
for a descent into the Atlantic.

(FAN WHIRRING)

Although the astronauts,
all test pilots, feel that space flight

is no more than the next step
along a familiar path,

most of us still think of it
as being unreal.

(CAMERA CLICKS)

But, in fact, it is reality catching up
with unreality.

Cocoa Beach, Florida is home base
for those who fly rockets

from adjoining Cape Canaveral.

Ten years ago, only 246 people lived here,

but now the glittering neon signs bear
testimony to the boom.

Population has increased 1,312 percent.

Everything here is space oriented.

(MUSIC STARTS PLAYING)

Here at Cape Canaveral
The astronauts are all ready

They will pave the way
Into space for the USA

They are guys with wives
Whose lives are just ordinary

But will pave the way
As we say with JFK

There's John Glenn, Grissom
And Shepard, too

Astronauts who really have come through

Slayton, Schirra, and Cooper passed
Carpenter's bongos are a blast off

Let's all drink a toast to the men
The most in missiles

And cheers to the man who's going out
In space, out in space

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four
Three, two, one

Going out in space

WHITE: We've tried to develop
what we call dynamic testing.

MCGEE: What does that mean?

WHITE: Well, in dynamic testing,
what we do is that we try

to give the man a challenge,
which is applicable to the kind

of stress loads that he would get
in flight.

MCGEE: Get him as close as you can
to actually doing it?

WHITE: That is correct.

The whole idea of the training
was not to enable the astronaut

to control and handle the machine
as other flight training.

It was really to desensitize the astronaut

to the terrors of what
he was gonna undertake.

And there was a principle in psychology
that if you expose a man

to a terrible type of event
in gradual stages,

he can overcome the terror.

We've had to think in terms
of certain stress loads.

We know that the man, for example,
is going to be exposed

to certain accelerations,
certain heat loads, certain vibrations,

noise, certain psychic trauma, that, uh,
are just a part of doing these kind

of new adventures.

CAPCOM: ASGAR, this is Recovery 5.

MCGEE: What you're hearing
is a simulation of the communications

between the space capsule
and ground control.

ASTRONAUT: Standing by
for impact and pickup.

Does Recovery have me? Over.

MCGEE: A less frightening exercise,
depending on how you look at it,

is the underwater escape training.

In their training, actually undergoing
these tests, which one do you feel

puts them under the greatest strain?

WHITE: I think the centrifuge program
is probably the best single stress load.

This has come closest to being able
to superimpose all the flight stresses

in one spot, simultaneously.

(RAPID WHIRRING)

GRISSOM: The centrifuge is like
a merry-go-round with one seat,

one seat out on a long arm that swings
you around and around,

faster and faster until they get
the G-level that they want.

And we've gone as high as 18 Gs,
which means 18 times the pull of gravity.

(RAPID WHIRRING INCREASES)

(CHEERFUL MUSIC PLAYING)

(CAMERA CLICKS)

-Scene one, take one.
-(BOARD CLICKS)

I am John Glenn, one of our astronauts
who is preparing

for our first manned ballistic flights
into space.

Naturally, all of us take a very deep
personal interest, needless to say,

in the Mercury capsule here that one of us
will ride one of these days into space.

WOLFE: LIFE Magazine decided
to buy the rights

to the personal stories of the astronauts.

And they paid what at the time
was a colossal sum,

five hundred thousand dollars
for three years to the seven men.

It came out to about 25 thousand dollars
per family per year for three years,

and for families that were,
had been used to making

eight or nine thousand
it was a lot of money.

We knew there would be
a lot of press attention,

but none of us realized that, uh,
we were going to lose anonymity.

Time Life painted us as boy scouts
and we were all American heroes,

and that was fine.

NARRATOR: Here's Astronaut John Glenn.

Hello, fellas, I'd like to talk to you
for a moment about adventure.

Did you ever climb a mountain?

Or land a trout?

That's the kind of adventure
you have in the Boy Scouts.

If you're looking for adventure, boys

Come join the Scouts today

MCGEE: Alan Shepard has a lively sense
of the ludicrous,

which he keeps fairly well under control.

But he would prefer to skirt
serious subjects.

And in a group, is likely to make
the witty remark that

turns conversation into a lighter vein.

And if the technicians connected
with the training of the astronauts

can be said to have a favorite, well,
their favorite appears to be Shepard.

Okay.

MCGEE: Each astronaut has several
meticulously fitted flight uniforms,

which they prefer to have called
"pressure," not spacesuits.

Shepard says it contributes more
to the astronauts' peace of mind

to say they've been inflated
instead of blown up.

Now when you fellas get together
among yourselves, what do you talk about?

Well, we have... have very little
time off actually.

Our attentions are focused pretty much
on the objectives of spaceflight.

We do take a few moments
for such things as waterskiing

-and... and playing golf.
-MCGEE: You like waterskiing?

-Yes, I do.
-MCGEE: What about that, uh, Corvette,

that white Corvette I've seen you drive,
you like that?

Well, I do enjoy driving that, yeah.

MCGEE: What... what do you
like most about it?

SHEPARD: Well, it has a few little goodies
underneath the hood that

-make it go faster than the ordinary car.
-MCGEE: Yeah.

WOLFE: When I started looking
into the stories of the astronauts,

they came from out of the world
of what they themselves

-called the fighter jocks.
-BROKAW: Yeah.

WOLFE: And the fighter jocks are
at the top

-of the pyramid of flying in the military.
-BROKAW: Yeah.

WOLFE: And these are people
who not only fly hard, they play hard,

and also, they're justifiably away
from home a lot.

-BROKAW: Mm-hmm.
-They're attractive to women,

and this began to play a part
in their lives

like the lives of every other
fighter jocks.

Well, at one point the astronauts, I mean,
there were so many women around them

at all times that John Glenn felt
compelled to say something

to 'em about it. I mean,
this thing has gotten to be too public,

is what he said at a meeting in San Diego.

WOLFE: There was bound to arise conflict
between someone like, uh,

Glenn on the one hand, and say
Alan Shepard on the other.

So finally, there was a little showdown.

It was out at the Kona Kai Hotel
on Shelter Island in San Diego.

Now Glenn, I must say,
does not mind being a maverick.

He thought that this playing around
with the cookies was getting out of hand.

Cookies, as groupies were called
in those days,

Glenn thought the time had come to deliver
a little lecture on the subject,

so he started saying how he wasn't gonna
stand by and let other members

of the group ruin the chance of a lifetime
by creating some scandal

through playing around with these girls.

The others could not believe that
one pilot, a peer among peers,

was standing up
and giving this moral lecture.

So, Alan Shepard, who was a very
different man from John Glenn,

stood up and in his stern
and sort of icy commander,

Naval Academy fashion, says,
"Listen, you're not gonna stand up

"and tell me or anybody else
your view of morality."

That scene was one of the things that
set off a real conflict between two camps.

One camp was really John Glenn
and Scott Carpenter on one side,

and the others basically agreed
with Shepard.

He was saying, it is not for you,
as one of our peers,

to tell us how we're going to act.

And this became the rival position.

REPORTER: From President to taxi driver,
every American is worried

about Russia's lead in this race
to put man into space.

We should do everything
possible to make any sacrifice

to help our country get up there, too.

REPORTER: The MR-2 craft will carry
a chimpanzee,

specially trained for the mission
at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.

The chimpanzees were kidnapped
in West Africa

and they were trained to ride
in the Mercury capsule.

And the training was really quite complex

and started as soon as
astronaut training began.

They even did some reading of a console,
the instrument panel.

They were given symbols,
such as two circles and one triangle

and they had to hit the triangle,

the odd symbol,
in order not to get a shock.

NARRATOR: The next decision,
which chimpanzee to send on the flight.

Each of the candidates gets
a complete medical checkup.

And the honor goes to an astrochimp
who was nicknamed, "Ham."

This is Mercury-Redstone 2,

MR-2, and Ham is on his way.

Concern mounts, Ham's heartbeat
and respiration climb fast.

The flight surgeon's eyes are glued
to his console,

monitoring Ham's condition.

(BEEPING)

REPORTER:
The Flight Surgeon watches the monitors,

and now Ham is doing better.

MR-2 is up over the top
and reentry begins.

The spacecraft is spotted from the air.

Ham is fine.

MR-2 was a significant milestone
on the highway to man's flight into space.

And the evidence is a live,
space experienced, chimpanzee.

The Soviets never would identify
the leader of their space program.

They always called him,
"The Chief Designer."

And Khrushchev would always say that
they couldn't possibly identify him

because the enemy agents
would seek him out and kill him.

And the real reason was
the man, his name was Sergei Korolev,

he had been a political prisoner
for ten years.

He was an ex-con in the Soviet Union.

They couldn't admit an ex-con
was running their space program.

It was presumed that the Soviets...

had somehow come up
with a whole generation

of super scientists who could
churn out these incredible space vehicles.

In fact, there was this one man,
this one genius named Korolev

who had always been considered a nut.

COLLINGWOOD: Twenty-five thousand miles,
17,000 miles an hour,

nobody else has ever done
anything like it.

This vehicle,

a machine that until today was only a term
in the vocabulary of fiction,

it was a spaceship.

The spaceship was built in Russia,
the takeoff and the landing

somewhere in Russia.

The name of the man...
Yuri Alekseyevich Gagarin.

(PATRIOTIC MUSIC PLAYS)

The first hero of the space age receiving

a hero's welcome today.

Yuri Gagarin, the first man ever to circle
the Earth in orbit, reports to his chief,

Nikita S. Khrushchev,
Prime Minister of the Soviet Union.

And in a day of wild jubilation,
he was embraced by the Soviet people

as a new pioneer, a Columbus,
a Linden, Lenin in a spacesuit.

RENICK: Here at Cape Canaveral,
the announcement of the Russian success

has made no visible impact
on this space-oriented community.

The people who live here,
the ones who watch missile firings

as a pastime, still have a local pride
in NASA's Project Mercury.

They are anxiously awaiting
the American firing

of an astronaut into space.

A shot that is anticipated
in the next two or three weeks.

MCGEE: At Cape Canaveral, the countdown,
which could take days,

began early this morning.

And there are rumors that Shepard
has been selected for the flight

with Glenn as standby and vice versa.

The Project Mercury officials have made
no announcement on either the timing

of the launch or the astronaut chosen.

But the launching fever
is gripping the cape

and will soon spread across the country.

The anticipation will however be dulled
by the sobering fact that

even if this experiment
is a spectacular success,

it will still leave the United States
second to Russia.

And if it's a catastrophic failure,
there will be deep gloom compounded

by the tragic loss perhaps of human life.

-(ENGINE REVVING)
-(BEEPING)

ANCHOR: We have interrupted
this program for a special broadcast

from Cape Canaveral.

We switch now to the Cape.

MCGEE: The actual rocket that
will be fired in this launching

and the capsule that will ride atop it
have been selected

and made ready at Cape Canaveral.

The name of the astronaut chosen
is not to be made known

until moments before the launch.

REPORTER: The pilot selected
for the first manned flight attempt

was Alan B. Shepard, Jr.

RENICK: Hundreds of persons traveled
to Cocoa Beach to see with their own eyes

at long distance, the streak of flame
as the Redstone heads skyward.

People stayed at beach vantage points
through the night sleeping in automobiles,

tucked into sleeping bags.

In the distance, about two miles away,
huge searchlights were trained

on the Redstone gantry tower.

Shepard left the Mercury astronaut hangar
in the specially equipped

transportation van, and then he journeyed
to the launching pad area, got out,

took a look at the missile,
and proceeded up the elevator

to assume his position inside
the space, uh, capsule.

ABERNATHY: He will not go into orbit,
as Yuri Gagarin did,

but he will ride his capsule
or spacecraft 116 miles up.

And there he'll hang weightless
for about five minutes

until gravity pulls him back
through the atmosphere to the sea

nearly three hundred miles down range.

The whole flight will take just 16 minutes
but even though brief,

it will help tell us whether man
can be useful in nearby space.

The tall gantry tower moved back
on its tracks nearly three hours ago,

leaving the white Redstone standing alone
like a monument of the space age.

Alan Shepard, encased in his
cumbersome pressure suit,

has remained in the capsule on his back
on his contour couch,

busy with his laboratory
of complex instruments,

going through the motions he's often
gone through in practice sessions,

talking to the control center.

ENGINEER: Firing command, 30, mark.

SHEPARD: Roger, Periscope has retracted.

ENGINEER: That is the best periscope
we've got.

SHEPARD: Main bus 24 volts.

TROUT: He has been busy
but he would not be human

if he did not feel the strain.

ENGINEER: Program. Roger.

C.O. Control fuel.
Roger, fire one. Awesome panel.

SHEPARD: Automatic fuel is 95.
Regular is 96.

Cameras and tape recorders are running.

VON FREMD: Sixty-two newsmen
from 12 foreign countries are present.

Some pace about, some sit ramrod straight
staring at the launching pad

where the Redstone sits.

A squawk box just announced T-minus
six minutes and counting.

WOLFE:
I sensed that in Alan Shepard's... flight,

that as it got down close to zero,

that the engineers were so worked up
for fear, each one for fear that

it would be his system that
would cause a catastrophe.

Finally, Shepard heard one of them...

talking about an overheating piece
of equipment.

ENGINEER: Somebody along, somebody,
a mechanic on the second?

WOLFE: The one engineer was saying
to the other, "You know, I think we better

"take that thing out and look at it before
we proceed."

And Shepard knew that taking
that thing out was not a 15-minute job,

it was a two-day job.

ENGINEER: Down at 170.
No, they should standby.

WOLFE: And at this point,
he got on the radio, and he says,

"Look... I'm cooler than you are."

WOLFE: "Why don't you fix
your little problem

"and light this candle?"

DC power will be applied to the capsule.
DC power will be applied to the capsule.

WOLFE: And that seemed to pull 'em
all together and said,

"Okay, if he's willing to take the risk,
then by God we should be willing, too."

ENGINEER: T-minus 15 seconds.

T-minus ten, nine, eight, seven,
six, five, four,

-three, two, one, zero.
-(BLASTS)

Lift off. Ignition.

SHEPARD:
Roger, lift off and the clock has started.

REPORTER: The Redstone is rising
from its launching pad, slowly at first,

going straight up into the sky.

SHEPARD:
Yes, sir, reading you loud and clear.

RENICK: The sound is now reaching
our vantage point here.

So far, so good.

The news people are applauding.

Tremendous cheers going off.

Alan B. Shepard in the nose cone
of that rocket.

SHEPARD: This is Freedom 7.
The fuel is go, 1.2 G, cabin at 14 psi.

Oxygen is go.

REPORTER: Seventy-eight thousand
pounds of thrust.

They're pushing the missile up
into the sky.

ENGINEER: The trajectory is A-okay.

REPORTER: The speed is picking up
to 4,500 miles an hour...

to carry spaceman Shepard
115 miles above the earth.

LAUNCH STAFF: Freedom 7 is still go.
The trajectory is A-okay.

Freedom 7 with astronaut Alan B. Shepard
reports the fuel system is go, 4 G.

SHEPARD: Cabin holding at 5.5.

LAUNCH STAFF: Cabin 5.5 pounds per square
inch. Oxygen go, all systems go.

HACKES: Medical monitor okay.
Apparently, the flight is going just

as well as planned,
perhaps even a little better.

None of the emergencies for which
we had planned for so long

has, uh, yet taken place, and, of course,
we hope none of them will.

SHEPARD: On the periscope,
what a beautiful view.

HACKES: At this point, the pilot
is about six minutes and 30 seconds

after his launch, 6:30 after launch.

In just a moment or two, he will confirm
that he is at the apogee of his flight,

that is the most distant point
from the Earth,

which we expect will be 115 to 117 miles.

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

REPORTER: Far out at sea an armada
of ships stand by to pick the capsule

out of the sea after it parachutes in.

SHEPARD: Okay, reentry attitude
retros are jettisoned.

MUELLER:
The capsule is dropping radar chaff

for the search planes and the ship.

SHEPARD: Uh... G-buildup, three...

six... nine.

Main chute is green, main chute is coming
un-reefed and looks good.

HACKES: This, of course, will be
the first, uh, word we get.

We hope within a matter of seconds
that the capsule has been spotted.

DOWNS:
It just hit the water a moment ago.

A cheer went up from the ship company
watching here from all decks

on the aircraft carrier.

The astronaut, Alan Shepard,
has just climbed out of the capsule.

And they are now trying
to get him up into the helicopter.

No one, especially newsmen,
will be allowed to ask him any questions

until he has been debriefed by doctors.

WOLFE: Glenn and the others now watched
from the sidelines as Al Shepard

was hoisted out of their midst.

REPORTER: Here come the astronauts,
and there's Shepard!

WOLFE: And installed as a national hero
on the order of a Lindbergh.

As the first United States Astronaut,
was an outstanding contribution

to the advancement of human knowledge
of space technology.

And I speak on behalf of,
uh, the Vice President, who is Chairman

of our Space Council,
the members of the House and Senate,

space committee who are with us today.

And, uh...

this decoration which has gone
from the ground up, here.

(LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE)

Well, all of a sudden during the period
of the middle of the weightlessness,

I realized that somebody was
gonna ask me that question.

(ALL LAUGH)

So...

(APPLAUSE)

So, I said to myself
you'd better figure out an answer.

Seriously, as we have said before, uh,
during the short periods of weightlessness

that we've experienced during
our training period,

it's quite a pleasant sensation.

KENNEDY:
Finally, if we are to win the battle

that is now going on around the world...

between freedom and tyranny,
the dramatic achievements in space,

which occurred in recent weeks,
should have made clear to us all,

as did the Sputnik in 1957,

impact of this adventure on the minds
of men everywhere

who are attempting to make a determination
of which road they should take.

I believe that this nation should commit
itself to achieving the goal

before this decade is out
of landing a man on the Moon

-and returning him safely to the Earth.
-(APPLAUSE)

SHEARER: The president put it like this,
"It will not be one man going to the Moon,

"it will be the entire nation,
for all of us must work to put him there."

(EPIC MUSIC PLAYING)

MCGEE: This training device was created
especially for the astronauts.

By releasing jets of air, they learn
to control their movements

in any one of three directions,
or any combination of the three.

As they perform these exercises,
a film strip of the world's geography

is projected on a screen to help
them learn, by instant sighting,

where they may be
along their projected path.

Virgil Grissom is the astronaut.

Do you have any difficulty convincing
yourself that you might actually

see the world go by like that someday?

I really don't sit in the trainer
and think about myself

being 100 miles above the Earth.

I'm occupied with the control task
and this is the thing that

really occupies my mind, not daydreaming.

BERGMAN: And here we are back
at ABC News headquarters

on Cape Canaveral.

Scarcely three minutes away
from America's second manned space shot

with captain Gus Grissom sitting
in the Mercury space capsule

atop that 83-foot high Redstone rocket.

And as of now, everything looks like
it's in a go condition.

SHEPARD: Periscope has retracted.

T-minus 15 seconds.

Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,

five, four, three, two, one.

Ignition. Lift off.

(LAUNCHES)

MALE VOICE: All systems are go,
and Gus Grissom sounds

like a very confident test pilot today.

-SHEPARD: Loud and clear.
-LAUNCH STAFF: Roger.

GRISSOM: Okay, the fuel is go,
about one and a quarter Gs.

Cabin pressure is just coming off the peg.
The oxygen is go.

POWERS: Six seventeen into the flight.

The capsule is coming around
into orbit attitude.

He has brought his spacecraft around
into reentry attitude

that is with the big bell shape
beginning to point down.

REPORTER: Flight Surgeon reports
that Gus Grissom came through

the high G forces of reentry
in A-okay condition.

REPORTER: Now, we're advised that
as a result of communications

with Gus Grissom floating in the water,
he's told his recovery helicopters that

he intends to finish his checklist
and make sure that everything is secure

in the cockpit before he opens
the hatch to come out.

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

MALE VOICE: The astronaut, Virgil Grissom,
is out of the capsule,

swimming in the water.

The capsule itself is apparently sinking
lower into the water...

and there is fear that it might sink
completely below the surface of the water.

Two helicopters are hovering
very close to the astronaut

and the capsule out there.

The helicopter is holding
up the capsule itself.

They're checking on Grissom again,
but the helicopter has a cable

aboard the capsule and is holding it up
at the present time.

The helicopter is hovering over
and holding the capsule up.

The capsule was sinking badly in the water
and that's the reason that Virgil Grissom

got out of the capsule.

One helicopter is hovering very close
to the capsule

and now they're moving in beside it.

They'll have to hold the capsule up
and get a cable down to Grissom as well.

(LOUD SPLASH)

MALE VOICE: The capsule has dropped.

The capsule has been dropped
by the helicopter.

And it's dropped back into the water.

Now, whether they can get it
again before it sinks or not,

that is going to be a major problem
at this time.

WOLFE: By this time, Grissom
was nearly drowning.

He had forgotten to close one
of the inlet valves

for the oxygen supply in his suit.

(HELICOPTER WHIRRING)

REPORTER: They're making an attempt
to get a cable to Virgil Grissom.

And it looks like Grissom is coming up
now, it looks like Grissom is coming up

out of the water. And there's, you can,
you can see him now.

He's about four miles from us,
and he's being pulled up.

And Grissom is safe and sound
in the helicopter after his dunking

when the capsule itself started to sink.

MCGEE: To recap briefly,
we have had a second successful launching

of an American astronaut. Obviously
not as successful as the first one

because the capsule itself
was lost in the recovery operation,

but successful in its most important
and critical area.

The astronaut himself, Air Force
Captain Virgil Grissom, was recovered.

WOLFE: The capsule had been equipped
for the first time with a hatch

that could be opened from the inside.

Now, the controversy was over whether
or not he had panicked and decided,

"I've gotta get out of this thing,"
and hit the button,

causing this catastrophe.
Or whether he had blundered,

and had inadvertently somehow
hit the thing,

either of which would be a cardinal sin.

REPORTER: The President has called

to the astronaut
Captain Virgil Gus Grissom.

WOLFE:
Grissom had John F. Kennedy to thank.

He was not about to let the second flight
of his new administration

be classified as a debacle.

By, it's kind of universal agreement,
it was said,

"Well, Gus's flight was really a success.

"He just had a little trouble
at the very end."

GRISSOM:
I started my, uh, pitch and yaw movement

to check out the manual control system,
and, uh, I was so fascinated by this view

out the window that I had difficulty
controlling on...

difficulty concentrating
on the instruments.

I kept wanting to peek out
the window.

You over here.

REPORTER: What happened to
the inflatable, uh, life raft, Gus?

Did you have to get out too fast for that,
or what's the procedure?

GRISSOM: Uh... I took off my helmet,
unstrapped myself,

I called, uh, helicopters, told them
I was ready to come out.

So I was all set, waiting for them,
laid back down on the couch.

I was just laying there,
minding my own business when, "Pow,"

the hatch went, I looked up,
and I saw nothing but blue sky,

and water starting to come in
over the sill.

Uh, without a doubt that
was the biggest shock of the day to me,

to see that door go off.

-Back, over here.
-REPORTER: Do you have an impression

of how much time elapsed
between the time the hatch blew

-and the capsule would fill?
-REPORTER: Somebody said to you,

"Get out of the blank,
blank capsule quick."

-Was this part of your conversation?
-REPORTER: In addition to the hatch,

what are the other things you...

REPORTER: Captain, do you have
any explanation

of why that escape hatch came off?

Is it possible you could have grazed
against the plunger button?

Well, I'm, uh, pretty certain
in my own mind that I didn't

because it's quite difficult
to get to it.

(APPLAUSE)

REPORTER: NBC News has presented
a news conference by Mercury astronaut

Virgil I. Grissom, who, yesterday,
became America's second man into space.

REPORTER:
Two pilot teams have been selected

for Project Mercury's initial manned
orbital spaceflight.

John H. Glenn Jr. has been selected
for the first flight

with Scott Carpenter acting as backup.

GLENN: We've done a great amount
of training, as you're well aware.

A lot of it has been new and varied,
and as we have gone through a lot of this,

I have tried to share a lot of this
with the family when I come home

from various activities.

In fact, that's usually the first thing
we do when I get home from a trip.

We all, uh, get caught up,
not only on my activities,

but on what Annie and the children
have been doing, too.

I'm sure you've given some thought
to the possibility that this flight

may not turn out well,
and that you may not come back.

If that should happen,
what kind of a memory

would you want your boy to have about you?

Well, that's an interesting question,
to say the least. (CHUCKLES)

MCGEE: It is.

GLENN: We all have certain talents.

It's up to us to use those talents that
we have to the maximum.

And if I can leave that sort of a heritage
that I used the talents I had to the best

of my ability while I was here, I think
that's the best memory anyone could leave.

REPORTER: Around town,
the tension is building,

perhaps more than we've
ever seen it here.

RENICK: The big question here surrounding
tomorrow's scheduled launch

of astronaut John Glenn
into a triple orbit around

the Earth is weather.

Weather here at the launch site
and downrange in the Atlantic

where Navy recovery vessels are scheduled
to meet Glenn as he comes out of orbit.

WOLFE: John Glenn was about to
make his flight,

in which he would be the first American
to go into orbit.

The flight was to take place in February,
and there was about four or five flights

that were delayed by the weather.

Glenn had been up on top of the rocket
for five and a half hours,

waiting for the weather to clear.

Finally, it wouldn't clear,
and the flight was scrubbed.

REPORTER:
I have an announcement for you.

An attempt to launch a man

to orbital Project Mercury spacecraft
here today...

was postponed due to a heavy overcast
in the launch area.

WOLFE: And at this point, Lyndon Johnson,
who was Vice President,

and had been made a kind of functionary
in-charge of the space program

to give a Vice President something to do,

was suffering an extreme case
of media deprivation.

And he was determined to get
inside of the Glenn household,

and console Annie Glenn...

on nationwide television for the ordeal
that she had had to go through

while waiting to see if her husband
was going to be exploded into space,

or up to the harp form.

REPORTER: The reaction here
at the Glenn household, of course,

is one of disappointment.
Mrs. Glenn, uh, was anxious for the shot

to go this morning,
as, uh, were all of us.

She is looking forward to the next
launching date, yet to be announced.

As you can see, a large crowd
of reporters, neighbors,

and casual spectators are gathered here.

WOLFE: Now, Annie Glenn was
terrified of this visit.

Fact was, as practically no one
in the country knew,

she had a ferocious stutter.

So, she kept sending out word that,
"No. Thank you very much.

"I really don't want to
see the Vice President.

"It's a very private moment for me."

She just wouldn't let him in the door.

And by now, he was in a limousine
about six blocks away,

waiting to be admitted to the presence
of the space-wife.

First thing Glenn knows,
he's back in the ready room,

taking off his pressure suit,
and in comes a delegation...

of brass from NASA,
marching into the place, saying,

"John, we need your cooperation,

"we're having a little problem
with your wife."

He says, "You're having a problem
with my wife?"

And they said, "Well, yeah, she won't let
the Vice President into the house.

"And you tell her, she's going to let
the Vice President of the United States

"into that house to console her."
So Glenn gets on the telephone,

and he says, "Look, if you don't want the
Vice President to come in,

"if you don't want the President
to come in, they're not coming in!"

Well, Glenn, with that gesture,
stood a good chance of losing his flight

because James Webb, who was
the new administrator of NASA

at that time, he wanted to replace him
right away.

You know, he said,
"He's not a team player."

It was only the fact that some
of Webb's subordinates immediately said,

"Look, the astronauts have
their differences.

"They have a lot of rivalries.

"But on something like this,
they're going to close ranks

"as any pilots would in a squadron,
and they're going to rebel.

"And you simply will not be able
to carry it through."

KAPLOW:
And here is pilot Glenn stepping out now.

Switching the portable air cooler

from his left to his right hand,
then back to his left.

And he moves his way around the front
of the truck on Launchpad 14.

And now stepping into the elevator,
followed by Dr. Douglas,

by suit technician Schmitt,
by astronaut Deke Slayton.

BERGMAN: Colonel John Glenn
was awakened at 2:20 a.m. Eastern Time

this morning to begin preparing
for this mission.

The second attempt at getting
the free world's first man hurled

into a three-orbit mission
around this world.

I don't know any words
for this except the trite ones,

tension is mounting here
at Cape Canaveral.

We've heard that phrase so many times
before, but I don't know any circumstance

to which is applies quite like this.

FLIGHT DIRECTOR:
Status check, pressurization?

MALE VOICE: Go. LOX tanking? I have a
blinking, high-level light?

-MALE VOICE 1: You are Go!
-MALE VOICE 2: Umbilical retract now?

-FLIGHT DIRECTOR: Range operations?
-LAUNCH STAFF: Go, clear to launch.

-FLIGHT DIRECTOR: Mercury capsule?
-LAUNCH STAFF: Go!

Fifteen seconds. Good Lord
riding all the way. Godspeed, John Glenn.

REPORTER: Moving past 30 seconds
into the countdown.

LAUNCH STAFF: Ten seconds and counting.

-REPORTER: T-minus ten seconds.
-LAUNCH STAFF: Ten, nine, eight, seven,

six, five, four, three

two, one, zero, ignition.

Liftoff. Liftoff!

(TRIUMPHANT MUSIC PLAYING)

REPORTER: The Atlas missile has
lifted off from the pad,

and is rising steady into the sky.

(ROCKET ENGINE ROARING)

REPORTER: As John Glenn Jr. has begun
his first orbital ride around the Earth.

The time of the lift off was 9:47.

As the spacecraft moved out
of sight from Florida,

it was picked up by the
Bermuda tracking station.

John Glenn's voice was coming in
loud and clear.

GLENN: So, the sun is coming up
behind me in the periscope,

a brilliant, brilliant red. Over.

-MALE VOICE: Roger.
-(RADIO STATIC)

TOWNSEND: Exactly one hour
and three minutes ago,

John Glenn left Cape Canaveral.

Traveling at 17,545 miles an hour
at an altitude varying

from 100 to 160 miles above the Earth.

REPORTER:
Did you ever show up for work today?

FEMALE VOICE: Yes, I did. We got
permission from our company to watch it.

REPORTER: Good for them. I don't...

imagine they figure they'd get
much work out of you anyway.

Not today. They said this is more
important than work.

GLENN: Uh, this is Friendship 7,
I'll try to describe what I'm in here.

Uh, I am in a... a big mass
of some very small particles,

uh, that are brilliantly lit up,
like they're luminescent.

I never saw anything like it.
They're around a little...

they're coming by the capsule...

uh, and they look like little stars,
a whole shower of them coming by.

WOLFE: They were undoubtedly particles
of some sort,

particles that caught the sunlight
at a certain angle.

They were beautiful.

There are literally thousands of them.

WOLFE: But were they coming
from the capsule?

That could mean trouble.

WOLFE: They swirled around his capsule
like tiny weightless diamonds,

little bijoux, no?
They were more like fireflies.

GLENN: Uh, now that I am out
in the bright sun,

uh, they seem to have disappeared.

LAUNCH STAFF:
Flight from data reduction.

Go ahead.

(ALARM BLINKING)

LAUNCH STAFF: Uh, Friendship 7, uh, we
have been reading, uh,

indication on the ground on segment 51,
which is landing bag deploy.

Uh, we suspect this is
an erroneous signal.

WOLFE: If the landing bag had deployed,
and there was no way

he could look out and see it,

not even with the periscope
because it would be directly behind him,

if it had deployed,
then the heat shield must be loose,

and might come off during reentry.

If the heat shield came off, he would
burn up inside the capsule like a steak.

REPORTER: When the, uh, craft does begin
to encounter denser atmosphere

that temperature we were talking about
will mount up to about 3,000 degrees.

That will occur at approximately
25 miles altitude.

And at that point, the spacecraft will be
moving at about 15,000 miles an hour.

The craft will sustain temperature
of that amount for about two minutes,

and the problem will be to have
it absorbed by the heat shield,

which is made of a very special sort of
plastic material that will burn off.

LAUNCH STAFF: Can you give him
that message please, Linus?

Roger, we can do.

SHEPARD: Uh, Seven, this is Cape. Over?

We're not sure whether
or not your landing bag has deployed.

Uh, we feel it's far safer to re-enter
with the retro package on.

Uh, we see no difficulty at this time
in that type of reentry. Over.

Uh, this is Friendship 7.
Now, what is the reason for this?

Do you have any reason? Over.

DAVIS: There had been some trouble
with the heat shield equipment

over Hawaii, and they have taken
a precautionary measure

to keep the heat shield equipment
on with the retro package for a while,

to make sure that the warning
they got was a false warning.

And so, the heat shield retro packet
was kept on the space capsule,

and, uh, precautions were taken.

Uh, this is Friendship 7, uh, going
to reentry attitude then in that case.

REPORTER: The retro packet
and the retrorockets

we talk about are really brakes.

John Glenn's capsule was in space
with the large blunt end, facing forward,

and the retrorockets are
on that blunt end.

And what they are, is they throw
some thrust out forward,

slowing the capsule down,
and that reduces its speed

below orbital velocity, and the capsule
starts to reenter the atmosphere.

All right, roger,
retracting scope manually.

REPORTER: He is in good condition,
and preparing to fire those retrorockets

to begin that long landing flight
towards the Atlantic.

CAPCOM: Five, four, three, two, one, fire.

GLENN: Roger, retros are firing.
Are they ever.

It feels like I'm going back
toward Hawaii.

CAPCOM: Uh, Seven, this is Cape. Over.

-Go ahead, Cape, you're going out.
-(RADIO STATIC)

CAPCOM: Uh, we recommend that you...

LAUNCH STAFF: Friendship 7 spacecraft
is now encountering the atmosphere

off the east coast of Florida.

TOWNSEND: He's over
the east coast of Florida,

and, uh, at the moment,
there is no contact with John Glenn.

GLENN: (INAUDIBLE) I have a
white sand... correction...

CAPCOM: Uh, Seven, this is Cape,
do you read? Over.

POWERS: The Mercury spacecraft
is in its reentry process at this time.

CAPCOM: Uh, Seven, this is Cape,
do you read? Over.

POWERS: We are not receiving any
voice communication at this time.

And we're waiting for the electric moment
when we hear that the main chute

has deployed, and is bringing him
safely back to Earth.

CAPCOM: Friendship 7,
this is Cape, do you read?

(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)

(INTENSE MUSIC PLAYING)

GLENN: This is Friendship 7.
A real fireball outside.

DOWNS: We have not yet seen any sign
of the drogue parachute,

which would appear, it opens up
at about 40,000 feet.

(AIR WHOOSHES LOUDLY)

GLENN: The chute is on green,
chute is out in reef condition

at 10,800 feet and beautiful chute.

Chute looks good.

LAUNCH STAFF: The Destroyer has the
capsule parachute in sight.

-They are talking.
-MALE VOICE: Roger.

TOWNSEND: He should be splashing down
in about 20 seconds from now,

if our advance estimate is correct.

This is Friendship 7,
standing by for impact.

TOWNSEND: Right now,
the Destroyer Noa is coming

right alongside the capsule.

So, within a matter of a very few
minutes, we ought to be getting word

on the pickup of John Glenn
from the Friendship 7.

We have another report now
from Colonel Powers. Here he is.

POWERS: The spacecraft was picked
up clear of the water

at one minute after 3:00,

and finally set down on the deck
at four minutes

after 3:00 this afternoon,
Eastern Standard Time.

SHADEL: We have our reporter,
Dave Nichols,

standing by at Arlington, Virginia,

at the home of Colonel Glenn.

Mrs. Glenn will make an appearance there
for the first time today.

There are several things that... that we
would like to say,

but I would want everyone to know...

that this is the most wonderful day
for my family, and we're quite...

we're so proud of our... of their...
their... their father,

of the... Mercury team...

of everyone that's made this
such a successful day.

TOWNSEND: Each orbit took approximately
89 minutes. There were three of them.

Undoubtedly, the most eventful four hours
and 50 minutes of his entire life.

GLENN: Perhaps I could've been given
information a little earlier

and a little more completely
on the heat shield problem

where they thought it possibly was loose.

Apparently, there was a very,
very lengthy discussion on this

that I was unaware of.
And, uh, if I had been aware that

there was possibly a problem
in this regard,

I would have been aware to watch
more closely for little bumps

on the capsule, or anything that
might have given a clue as to our status.

I was kept reasonably in the dark on this.

-How do you do, sir? What's your name?
-My name is Oliver Whiting,

and I'm a British subject, sir.

That's rather apparent, sir,
what do you think of, uh...

-Well, I think this is one of...
-...what America and the free world

-have accomplished today.
-Indeed. I think it's one of the greatest

scientific advances that has ever taken
place in the lives of anybody

in this vast concourse. And I would like
to say something,

-if I may be permitted to do so.
-Please do.

Well, sir, it's this, I think that
in this scientific age today,

we have shrunk the surface of the Earth

to such a state that now
it's a single unit, and we cannot think

of it as otherwise,
and I hope we never will again.

CRONKITE: John Glenn arrived
home this morning

to be met in Florida by his family.

(CHEERING)

(MOTORCYCLE ENGINES REV)

CRONKITE:
John Glenn now points out details

of the capsule to President Kennedy.

GLENN: Normally, those retrorockets
are dropped off after firing.

There was some indication, though,
on the ground

that the, uh, heat shield might have
come loose,

and if this had happened, why, of course,
the whole thing would just have

disintegrated, and burned up.

So that was rather...
it was an interesting return.

Kind of like having a... (INAUDIBLE)

CRONKITE: Along with some answers,
Glenn's flight produced some questions,

like the mystery of the tiny
luminous particles

he reported seeing with each sunrise.

All I can say about these
is I observed them.

I saw them for about, from the first
light of sun to a period of some...

Uh... oh, three and a half, four minutes.

That time period made
close observation of them.

Uh, they were very luminous,
a yellowish green color.

And, uh, as George Ralph, our psychiatrist
listened to this and said,

-"What did they say, John?"
-(ALL LAUGH)

People I was sittin' this mornin'
With this on my mind

Said there ain't no livin' man who go
Around the world three time

But John Glenn done it

Yes, he did

WOLFE: When John Glenn became
the first American to go into Earth orbit,

there was a ticker tape parade for him.

The astronauts all remembered
so vividly the sight of New York policemen

directing traffic in the intersections
for this big parade,

crying, tears rolling down their cheeks.

And saying, you know,
"We love you, Johnny,"

to John Glenn, "We love you."
And I think it was an emotional moment

in this country's history that has
never been equal since then.

I don't think we've had a nationwide hero
since John Glenn.

John Glenn said it

MALE VOICE: All I can say is that
in my 72 years of life, I, uh,

never witnessed anything like this before.

Today, I know that I seem to be standing
alone on this great platform...

just as I seemed to be alone
in the cockpit

of the Friendship 7 spacecraft...

but I'm not.

There were with me then and with me now,
thousands of Americans,

and many hundreds of citizens
of many countries around the world.

As our knowledge of this universe
in which we live increases,

may God grant us the wisdom
and guidance to use it wisely.

-Thank you very much.
-(APPLAUSE)

VON FREMD: This flight was just the
end of the beginning.

It was the first American orbital flight,
but by no means the last.

The next one on the schedule should come
about 60 days from now.

REPORTER: Donald Slayton, known as
Deke, was replaced by M. Scott Carpenter,

the next astronaut in line for orbit,
because of mild heart palpitations.

(TAPE STARTS RECORDING)

WOLFE: Okay, repeat after me,
I went to a wonderful party.

RENE: I went to a wonderful party.

-WOLFE: I must say the fun was intense.
-RENE: I must say the fun was intense.

WOLFE: We all had to do what the people
we knew would be doing 100 years hence.

RENE: We all had to do what the people we
knew would all be doing 100 years hence.

RENE: Yeah, I asked. Mm-hmm.

WOLFE: After a while,
Rene didn't know whether

it was her modest literary ambitions

or her resentment of the pat role
of astronaut wife that made her do it.

After the earlier successes
of Shepard, Grissom, and Glenn,

Scott Carpenter's mission seemed,
in advance, almost routine.

Actually, it was our most
ambitious challenge yet.

It required the pilot to do things
we hadn't dared ask of his predecessors.

A larger degree of control
and maneuvering the space capsule,

more tests to help measure the way
things move in space,

and how they look to a man observing them.

REPORTER: Now, the astronaut's ready,
and so is everything else.

LAUNCH STAFF:
Ten, nine, eight, seven, six.

RENE:

LAUNCH STAFF:
Zero, ignition. Liftoff.

LAUNCH STAFF:
Liftoff. Liftoff. The clock has started.

-Roger.
-CARPENTER: Loud and clear, Gus.

GRISSOM: Roger, Aurora 7. Standby
for the time hack.

CARPENTER: Roger.

RENE:

(RENE LAUGHS)

WOLFE:

RENE:

WOLFE: Thorns.

GRISSOM: Roger, Aurora.

CARPENTER: Clear blue sky.

(SHUTTER CLICKS)

CARPENTER:

(SHUTTER CLICKS)

CARPENTER:

CAPCOM:

CARPENTER:

CAPCOM:

CARPENTER:

CAPCOM:

CARPENTER:

CRONKITE:
The crowds at Grand Central New York

and around the United States...

wait prayerfully for this moment,
here's Powers.

POWERS: Our data at this time indicates
that it is distinctly possible that

the Aurora 7 spacecraft may land

considerably longer down range
than it was planned.

Our present estimate of his landing point
may go as far as 200 miles down range.

WOLFE: Cronkite had been explaining
Scott's fuel problem

as he entered the atmosphere,

then Cronkite's voice began to take
on more and more concern.

We have a very, even more disturbing
report it seems to this reporter here

from NASA, from space authorities.

They say they did not pick up
any radar blips

from the descending spacecraft.

It almost begs for interpretation
as to what that could mean.

There has not even been radar contact
with the Aurora 7 since the last contact

with, uh, Scott Carpenter by voice,

which was back when he announced
his G forces building

for the reentry into the atmosphere.

This is the worst chore this reporter
ever went through,

trying to fill time when there
is nothing to say, except wait.

Uh, it would seem that even 200 miles
would not be too far to pick up

a radar signal.

(ENGINE REVVING)

POWERS: A US Navy P2V aircraft
in the landing area

-has received an electronic contact.
-(BEEPING)

RENE:

POWERS: We do not have any further
details at this time,

except now diverting his aircraft
into that immediate area.

CRONKITE: Let's go now to Joe Campbell,
who is aboard the USS Intrepid.

CAMPBELL: Well, we've just received
a happy word that one of the ships'

own jet helicopters,

which has been speeding
to the scene of impact,

has just affected rescue
of astronaut Scott Carpenter,

and is now proceeding
towards the Intrepid.

-CRONKITE: Oh, boy.
-(CHEERING)

CRONKITE: Well, that's the longest
45 minutes we've ever spent.

Scott Carpenter is out
of the Atlantic Ocean.

After his four hours and 50 minutes
in space, three hours on the Atlantic,

bobbing around in that small raft.

EDWARDS: Well, it started out
like Buck Rogers,

and wound up like a condensed
version of Robinson Crusoe.

News of Carpenter's recovery reached
his wife Rene at Cocoa Beach, Florida,

-the site of space program headquarters.
-RENE: I want to say...

that...

the effort... involved...

in one of these missions...
is such that...

at the end, we often feel...
emotionally drained...

and we tend to fall back on...

the comfortable phrases...

and words like "happy,"
"proud," "thrilled, "

and we feel so much more.

I do want to say... that
I know that this has been hard

for you not being able
to have... the doorstep...

but the privacy that it afforded me
was wonderful for me today.

I think it's thrilling.
I stopped everything, and watched it,

and the baby was watching it,
and she wanted to go too.

She's four years old, and she wanted
to go on the trip with the, with the man.

And when his children and his wife
were on, uh,

I thought it was real exciting.

I think everybody was more or less
sitting on the edge

of their seats until they did find him.

I think it's wonderful. I think
it's a great thing for this country!

And believe me,
we're never going to be buried.

LAUNCH STAFF: Roger, Wally,
you got anything to say to everyone

watching you across the country
on this thing?

We're going out live on this.

SCHIRRA: I'm looking at the United States,

and starting to pitch up slightly
with this drifting rate.

And I see the Moon, which I'm sure no one
in the United States can see

as well as I right now.

CRONKITE: This flight's scheduled
to be the last of the Mercury Program

before the Mercury Program ends,
and we begin flights

in our two-man capsule, the Gemini.

The intermediate step before we go
to Apollo, and the step to the Moon.

REPORTER: America's team of astronauts
was increased to 16 today,

when The Manned Space Center at Houston,
Texas named the men today.

It was specified that they will be trained
for trips to the Moon.

We've had a number of these...

ceremonies at the White House
and at Cape Canaveral to pay tribute

to a very distinguished group
of Americans, who have in,

our time, in this rather civil society,
demonstrated that there are...

great frontiers still to be crossed.

And in flying through space, they've
carried with them the wishes, the prayers,

the hopes and the pride of 180 million
of their fellow countrymen.

I hope that, uh, we will be encouraged
to continue with this program.

I know that a good many people
say, "Why go to the Moon?"

Just as many people said
to Lindbergh, "Why go to Paris?"

Lindbergh said, "It's not so much a matter
of logic as it is of feeling."

I think that the United States has
committed itself to this great adventure

in the '60s. I think before the end
of the '60s, we will see a man

on the Moon, an American.

And I think in so doing, it's not nearly
that we're interested in making

this particular journey, but we are
interested in demonstrating

a dominance of this new sea,

and making sure that
in this new great adventurous period,

that the Americans are playing
their great role as they have in the past.

(DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING)

(SOFT MUSIC PLAYING)