Eyes of the world still on Glenn after 32 years

Published: Tuesday, October 27, 1998

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) - The last time John Glenn flew in space, the world stopped, looked and listened.

Nine thousand people stared at a giant TV screen in New York's Grand Central station to follow along.

Millions listened to the Voice of America, which broadcast the event in 36 languages. Across America, schoolchildren put their books aside, almost nobody, anywhere, got any work done, and Carolyn Glenn, playing hooky to watch Dad circle the Earth, got word that she had been nominated for president of her ninth grade.

By lighting every street lamp and neon sign, Perth, Australia, became known worldwide. Glenn saw the lights in a nighttime pass over western Australia and radioed his thanks. Even the New York subways got into the act on Feb. 20, 1962, with blow-by-blow accounts over loudspeakers on the platforms.

President Kennedy's breakfast meeting with congressional leaders disintegrated, with everyone watching a television set in the corner of the room. "About all we talked about was the orbit," said Sen. Mike Mansfield.

And John Hershel Glenn Jr., the first American to orbit the Earth, commented: "It's been a long day, but it has been very interesting." Ever the taciturn Marine pilot, he set a pattern followed by astronauts ever since.

Thirty-six years and four terms as a United States senator later, Glenn is anything but close-mouthed as he prepares to set another record - this one for being, at age 77, the oldest person by far to venture into space. He is there, he said, not as a passenger with a congressional free ride but to help study the effects on aging.

The last time he flew in space, the United States was engaged in a race with the Russians - and it was losing. The Soviets had already put two men into orbit, while America had managed only two short suborbital flights for Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom.

As America chafed in second place, the Soviets mocked its efforts. In the twomonth period when Glenn's Friendship 7 mission was postponed 10 times, one Soviet newspaper cartoon showed a bearded Atlas rocket sitting in a barber chair waiting to be shaved. Americans were itching to win.

Glenn's one-man Mercury capsule was numbered 13 by its manufacturer, but no matter. When the Atlas 6 rocket lifted off from the Eastern Test Range at Cape Canaveral, he commented, "The clock is operating. We are under way." Ten seconds later: "Little bumpy along here." Five minutes later: "Zero-g and I feel fine." He was weightless, bound for unparalleled adventure, but a good Marine doesn't wax poetic.

"Oh, that view is tremendous," said Glenn as his capsule moved at 17,300 mph over the Atlantic. "Can see clear back a big cloud pattern way across towards the Cape. Beautiful sight." And then it was all business.

The 50,000 spectators gathered on the beach "watched the sky until there was nothing left to see except pelicans and sea gulls, and until the rocket's vapor trail had lost its shape and become a floating, upside-down question mark," said The New York Times. "Then they slumped on the beach to hear the rest by radio."

When Glenn splashed down, a 900-pound cake the size and shape of the Mercury capsule was sliced and distributed on Cocoa Beach. A huge marquee along the main road lighted up to say "Our Prayers Were Answered." The Post Office, with no advance notice, released a 4-cent commemorative stamp showing Glenn's capsule above Earth against a background of stars.

Pope John XXIII was kept informed of the flight's progress. Queen Elizabeth congratulated Kennedy for Glenn's "historic achievement." The Soviets' Premier Nikita Khrushchev said all nations wanted scientific achievements to benefit man "and not be used for Cold War purposes and the arms race."

Glenn's wife, Annie, watched the flight from their home in Arlington, Va., with 14-year-old Carolyn, 16-year-old David and Mrs. Glenn's parents. Glenn's parents stayed at home in New Concord, Ohio, and when it was over came into the Muskingum College gym and told 1,200 people that "never, for a moment" were there doubts about John's success.

In Frankfort, Ky., Gov. Bert T. Combs commissioned Glenn the first Kentucky Colonel in orbit. The Marine Corps, bursting its buttons with pride, wired: "We salute you for having given the corps its greatest `first.' You have given a new and broader meaning to our cherished slogan, `The Marines have landed and have the situation well in hand."'

In turn, Glenn asked his "capsule communicator" on the ground to send a message to the commandant of the corps: "Tell him I have my four hours required flight time in for the month and request flight chit be established for me."

"Think they'll pay it?" asked the Capcom.

"I don't know. Gonna find out."

"Is this flying time or rocket time?

"Lighter than air, buddy," said Glenn. He got the extra $245 flight pay.


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