To quote H.G. Wells, "There is no way back into the past: the choice is the Universe . . . . or nothing. Though men and civilizations may yearn for rest, for the Elysian dream of Lotus Eaters, that is a desire that merges imperceptibly into death. The challenge of the great spaces between the worlds is a stupendous one, but if we fail to meet it, the story of our race will be drawing to its close. Humanity will have turned its back upon the still untrodden heights and will be descending again the long slope that stretches, across a thousand million years of time, down to the shores of the primeval sea."
May 5, 1961, crowds gathered at Cocoa Beach and cheers echoed back into space as America's first astronaut, Alan B. Shepard, Jr. in a Mercury launch atop Freedom 7 (eighty-three foot thirty-three ton Redstone rocket), rose from Cape Canaveral for a fifteen-minute suborbital flight. Three weeks earlier, the Soviet Union's Maj. Yuri Gagarin had completed the first manned space-flight, a one-obit mission aboard the Soviet spacecraft Vostok, and the race into manned space exploration written in the skies.
Four months after Alan B. Shepard, Jr. became the first American to ride a pure rocket into space, a second launch manned with Gus Grissiom's Liberty Bell brought new hope and enthusiasm for America's space program. It was to be the last launch atop a Redstone rocket. Now that the Mercury capsule had been proven safe, the next stage of manned flight, atop the more powerful Atlas booster, was to test performance of pilots in a more extended weightless condition.
The first orbital Space flight was with John Glenn in Friendship 7 covered this stage in a three orbit mission. It was the beginning where such flights could be dangerous and costly . . . a lesson reinforced when the Challenger space shuttle exploded in January 1986.
At the end of Glenn's flight there were indications that NASA felt there were certain things that is was better for Astronauts not to know. "A radio signal from the spacecraft indicated that the landing bag which would act as a cushion when the capsule hit the water, had been deployed prematurely. If this signal proved valid, it would mean that the heat shield, which is attached to the land bag, had also come free and would not protect the spacecraft from the fiery heat of re-entry. " In other words, the capsule's heat shield would have sheared off during reentry, and friendship 7, with Glenn inside it, would have incinerated in seconds.
Nearly four hours into the flight the autopilot is behaving erratically and Glenn bypasses it to take control of the spacecraft himself. "Instructions from space center recommended that Glenn leave the retropackage on through the entire re-entry" This is Friendship 7, What is the reason for this? Do you have any reason? Not at this time. This is the judgment of cape Flight.
Glenn has still not been told that NASA is worried his heat shield has slipped. Glenn keeps busy bring the nose of the Mercuy capsule up until instruments indicate he is flying straight and level with the earth and ready for re-entry. Cape tells Glenn that we are not sure whether your landing bag has deployed. We feel that it is possible to re-enter with the retro-package on. We see no difficulty at this time in that type of re-entry.
Within minutes flight center voices fade and manually John Glenn and Scott Shepard start the capsule rolling. Ike a rifle bullet, the capsule must revolve slowly during re-entry for maximum accuracy in hitting the landing area. Suddenly one of the stainless-steel retropack straps is hanging directly in front of the window. This is Friendship 7, I think the pack just let go. His message goes unheard.
Outside the window he sees an orange glow. Its brilliance grows. Now the orange color intensifies. Suddenly large flaming pieces of metal come rushing back past the window. What can they be he thought? The retropack was gone. For a moment he feels that the capsule itself must be burning and breaking up. He peers out through the window from the center of a fireball. All around him glows the brilliant orange color. Visible through the center is a bright yellow circle. He see that it is the long trail of flowing ablation material from the heat shield, stretching out behind him.
This is Friendship 7. A real fireball outside. The fireball is fading. He hear the Cape calling, slightly garbled. How are you doing? He answers, Oh, pretty good.
Glenn and Shepard splashed down not quite nine and a half minutes later. The U.S. Navy destroyer Noa began hoisting Glenn and his capsule aboard.
The Mercury program gave way to the Gemini and Apollo programs. Apollo 11 and the first man walk. As manned and unmanned spacecraft reach farther and farther out, mankind's knowledge of the universe expands with them. There will always be those that would suggest the the lives lost and the monies spent in exploration might have been better used. What do you think?
Credits: Hundred Year Adventure: National Geographic Society, 1986.
Photo: Available for sale in our shop. Commemorative Space "Apollo Eleven" 6-Piece Collection & Limited Edition Print Set NASA. $600.
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