Friendship 7: The Epic Orbital Flight of John H. Glenn, Jr.IN THIS SPELLBINDING account of an historic but troubled orbital mission, noted space historian Colin Burgess takes us back to an electrifying time in American history, when intrepid pioneers were launched atop notoriously unreliable rockets at the very dawn of human space exploration.
A nation proudly and collectively came to a standstill on the day this mission flew; a day that will be forever enshrined in American spaceflight history. On the morning of February 20, 1962, following months of frustrating delays, a Marine Corps war hero and test pilot named John Glenn finally blazed a path into orbit aboard a compact capsule named Friendship 7.
The book’s tension-filled narrative faithfully unfolds through contemporary reports and the personal recollections of astronaut John Glenn, along with those closest to the Friendship 7 story, revealing previously unknown facts behind one of America’s most ambitious and memorable pioneering space missions. |
Contents
1 | |
The precursory flight of chimpanzee Enos | 27 |
Marine on a mission | 43 |
Delays and more delays | 73 |
Godspeed John Glenn | 95 |
A dramafilled mission | 119 |
Safe splashdown | 143 |
Back home a hero | 175 |
Appendix 1
Deployment of the MA6 recovery force | 217 |
Appendix 2
Sequence of events during the MA6 flight | 219 |
Appendix 3
In his own words | 221 |
Appendix 4
Naming that tune | 241 |
Appendix 5
The Mercury pressure suit | 249 |
Appendix 6
Around the World with Friendship 7 | 257 |
About the author | 269 |
271 | |