Footprints in Time [antikvár]

INTRODUCTION GLENN ORBITS EARTH 3 TIMES SAFELY; PICKED UP FROM CAPSULE BY DESTROYER; PRESIDENT WILL GREET HIM IN FLORIDA Cape Canaveral, Fla., Feb. 20 - John H. Glenn Jr. orbited three times around the earth today and landed safely to become the first American to make such a flight. The forty-year-old Marine Corps lieutenant-colonel traveled about 81,000 miles in four hours and fifty-six minutes before splashing down into the Atlantic at 2:43 p.m., Eastern Standard Time. He had been launched at 9:44 a.m. The astronaut's safe return was no less a relief than a thrill to the Project Mercury team because there had been real concern that the Friendship 7 capsule might disintegrate as it rammed back into the atmosphere. There had also been serious question whether John Glenn could complete three orbits as planned. But despite persistent control problems, he managed to complete the entire flight plan. From the New York Times, Feb. 20, 1962 The impact of Colonel Glenn's magnificent achievement goes far beyond our own time and our own country. We have a long way to go. We started late, and I believe that the United States must sail upon . . . the sea of space. From a speech by John F. Kennedy, Feb. 20, 1962 XV