Friendship 7 The Epic Orbital Flight of John H. Glenn, Jr. Other Springer-Praxis books of related interest by Colin Burgess NASA’s Scientist-Astronauts with David J. Shayler 2006 ISBN 978-0-387-21897-7 Animals in Space: From Research Rockets to the Space Shuttle with Chris Dubbs 2007 ISBN 978-0-387-36053-9 The First Soviet Cosmonaut Team: Their Lives, Legacies and Historical Impact with Rex Hall, M.B.E. 2009 ISBN 978-0-387-84823-5 Selecting the Mercury Seven: The Search for America’s First Astronauts 2011 ISBN 978-1-4419-8404-3 Moon Bound: Choosing and Preparing NASA’s Lunar Astronauts 2013 ISBN 978-1-4614-3854-0 Freedom 7: The Historic Flight of Alan B. Shepard, Jr. 2014 ISBN 978-3-3190-1155-4 Liberty Bell 7: The Suborbital Mercury Flight of Virgil I. Grissom 2014 ISBN 978-3-319-04390-6 Colin Burgess Friendship 7 The Epic Orbital Flight of John H. Glenn, Jr. Colin Burgess Bangor , NSW , Australia SPRINGER-PRAXIS BOOKS IN SPACE EXPLORATION Springer Praxis Books ISBN 978-3-319-15653-8 ISBN 978-3-319-15654-5 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-15654-5 Library of Congress Control Number: 2015933843 Springer Cham Heidelberg New York Dordrecht London © Springer International Publishing Switzerland 2015 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are reserved by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifi cally the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfi lms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specifi c statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. Front cover: John Glenn is inserted into Friendship 7 ahead of his MA-6 mission. (Photo: NASA) Back cover: John Glenn suited up in 1962 prior to his Mercury fl ight (left) and thirty-six years later, for his fl ight aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. (Photos: NASA) Cover design: Jim Wilkie Project copy editor: David M. Harland Printed on acid-free paper Springer International Publishing AG Switzerland is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Contents Dedication .................................................................................................................. ix Foreword .................................................................................................................... xi Acknowledgements ................................................................................................... xv Author’s prologue ..................................................................................................... xvii 1 Developing the Mercury-Atlas program ........................................................... 1 A problem of complacency ................................................................................... 1 Boosting “Old Reliable” ....................................................................................... 2 Unveiling Atlas ..................................................................................................... 5 Powering to orbit ................................................................................................... 9 The Little Joe tests ................................................................................................ 14 Sam and Miss Sam ................................................................................................ 18 John Glenn named to MA-6 .................................................................................. 22 2 The precursory fl ight of chimpanzee Enos ....................................................... 27 Ham’s Mercury mission ........................................................................................ 27 Training the chimps .............................................................................................. 29 A suitable candidate for orbit ................................................................................ 30 Enos and MA-5 ..................................................................................................... 34 A troublesome fl ight ............................................................................................. 37 Results pave the way ............................................................................................. 39 A “go” for orbital fl ight ......................................................................................... 40 3 Marine on a mission ............................................................................................ 43 The Glenn family .................................................................................................. 43 First fl ight .............................................................................................................. 46 Joining the Marine Corps ...................................................................................... 50 Patrol duty in China .............................................................................................. 55 War in the air over Korea ...................................................................................... 55 Preparation for space ............................................................................................. 58 v vi Contents NASA is born ........................................................................................................ 59 Selecting the Mercury astronauts .......................................................................... 61 How the selection process worked ........................................................................ 64 Lovelace clinic and Wright-Patterson ................................................................... 66 Initial training ........................................................................................................ 70 4 Delays and more delays ...................................................................................... 73 The long wait begins ............................................................................................. 73 Creating an insignia .............................................................................................. 76 A procession of delays .......................................................................................... 80 Close, but another delay ........................................................................................ 83 Coping with postponements .................................................................................. 90 Ready to try again ................................................................................................. 92 5 “Godspeed, John Glenn” .................................................................................... 95 Working as a team ................................................................................................. 95 Mission Control: A most important team ............................................................. 97 Beginning the big day ........................................................................................... 99 Ready to go ........................................................................................................... 106 Final preparations .................................................................................................. 111 Winding down the countdown .............................................................................. 114 6 A drama-fi lled mission ........................................................................................ 119 Blazing a trail ........................................................................................................ 119 Into orbit ................................................................................................................ 124 Flying into “fi refl ies” ............................................................................................ 128 Orbit Two and Segment 51 ................................................................................... 129 “A real fi reball” ..................................................................................................... 135 The moment of truth ............................................................................................. 138 Splashdown! .......................................................................................................... 140 7 Safe splashdown .................................................................................................. 143 Luck of the draw. .................................................................................................. 143 Action on the USS Noa ......................................................................................... 145 Astronaut on board ...............................................................................................