Friendship Seven

Friendship 7

Soon to be astronaut John Glenn was nervous; he was sitting in his zero-gravity seat aboard the “Friendship 7,” a Mercury capsule on top of an Atlas VI rocket. This was the seventh time that they had readied the rocket for launch; the other six dates had been canceled due to various problems with the rocket and weather. Despite four more mechanical problems with the rocket today and several hours delay, the launch seemed to be a go. Throughout the ordeal, Glenn tried to remain calm as his vitals were being broadcast to the nation. Soon he was bolted into the capsule, the fuel lines were retracted, and the final countdown began. During the last few seconds, the engines roared to life and he felt his heart rate quicken when an intense rumbling filled the rocket as it started its vertical journey into space. “Liftoff!” he heard over the communications system just as the intense G-forces began to push him down into his seat.

The mission seemed to be going well, he had cleared the launch tower, rolled to the proper angle, and he had made it to one of the crucial points in his journey: booster separation. To his relief, the booster engines cut off and then fell away perfectly and the escape tower was jettisoned on schedule. With the tower detached, the capsule pitched downwards and a brilliant sight came into view before him. The view took his breath away; it was his first glimpse of the Earth from such an immense altitude. A vast ocean spanned out before him, the curved horizon of the Earth sat in the distance, and a blue halo surrounded the planet, slowly fading to black as it moved farther from the surface. Soon the engines cut off altogether and Glenn was informed by Mission Control that he would be able to orbit at least seven times before having to return.

So far, the mission was going great; but just as Glenn began to relax, he encountered his first problem. The auto-attitude system experienced a substantial roll error and the computer took thirty-eight seconds to correct the capsules orientation and course, by then, Glenn began to worry about the amount of fuel he had left. After the issue was corrected, he looked back down at the Earth. The Atlantic Ocean and the Canary Islands pass by and then a large dust storm in Africa rotates into view. After examining the storm for a minute, his attention shifted back to the controls and instruments and after a quick glance, it was clear that there was another problem; his instruments appeared to be stuck. This issue did not go unnoticed by Mission Control who radioed him their instructions to make a yaw correction in order to stay on the planned course. With the adjustments made, he was able to look outside just in time to see the sun setting over the Indian Ocean and he jokingly remarked, “That was about the shortest day I’ve ever run into.”

A few minutes later, he was over the Pacific Ocean looking out of the periscope in anticipation of the sun rising over the horizon. As the sun rose, he saw brilliant oranges and blues as well as several luminescent particles whizzing by the craft. Simultaneously, he describes these “fireflies” to Mission Control who later become concerned that the particles may be a leak from the ship. The automatic stabilization system also failed further complicating things and resulting in Glenn having to manually control the movement of the capsule for the remainder of the mission. In addition, his suit began to grow uncomfortably hot. As he lowered the temperature of his suit, the humidity in the cabin began to rise