Operation Just Cause... ...for as long as it takes
by Barbara Fitzgerald-Malone
The men and women who dedicate their lives to serving the
country are heroes in the minds of all Americans. Senator John H. Glenn,
Jr., is a true American hero for, on February 20, 1962, he became the
first American to orbit the Earth.
For centuries, people have been curious about the origins of the
Earth, Sun, the Moon, and the entire Solar System. With the invention of
the telescope in the sixteenth century, the world was on its way to
discovering the mysteries of the universe. Space flight, however, had
not become a reality until the early 1960's.
Sending a man into orbit around the Earth was a key milestone
for NASA's space program and for the United States. The name of the man
responsible for that milestone is John Herschel Glenn, Jr.
On July 18, 1921, forty years before the late President John F.
Kennedy made sending a man to the Moon a national goal, John Herschel
Glenn was born in Cambridge, Ohio. He was an honor student in high
school and a star player in football, basketball, and tennis, before
graduating in 1939.
Glenn had a fascination with aviation from an early age. One
year, when an epidemic of scarlet fever restricted him from going
outside, Glenn began building model airplanes out of wood. When the
models crashed, he repaired them and flew them again.
Glenn learned to fly in a Navy program for civilians in New
Philadelphia, Ohio, while attending Muskingum College. After three years
of college, he left to join the Naval Aviation Cadet Program and became
a second lieutenant in the U.S. Marine Corps. He became a naval aviator
in March of 1943. In October of 1944, the Marine Corps promoted Glenn to
first lieutenant.
The first time John Glenn served his country was when he joined
the Marine Fighter Squadron. During World War II, he flew in fifty-nine
missions and became a captain in July of 1945. He also served in the
Korean War from 1950 to 1953, where he flew in ninety combat missions.
He shot down three enemy planes two weeks before the fighting ended. By
1952, he advanced to the rank of major.
For his courageous efforts during the wars, the Armed Forces
awarded Glenn four Distinguished Flying Crosses for "heroism while
participating in aerial flights". John Glenn also received nineteen Air
Medals for "meritorious achievements while participating in aerial
flights, and for single acts of merit, or of sustained operational
activities".
During the war, mechanics often declared Glenn's aircraft unfit
to fly, because he brought them back in such bad shape. The amazing
thing was that he returned the planes without injury to himself. Glenn
defended his country in the Korean War and in World War II, yet his acts
of heroism did not stop there.
After the Korean War, Glenn became a test pilot. At the Navy's
Test Pilot School in Patuxent, Maryland, he tested the Navy's new
fighter jets. Later, while assigned to the Fighter Branch of the Navy's
Bureau of Aeronautics, John Glenn gained experience in the design of new
planes and equipment.
On July 16, 1957, he set a transcontinental speed record in a
supersonic jet. He traveled from New York to Los Angeles in three hours
and twenty-three minutes, in an F8U jet aircraft. After his
record-breaking flight, he received his fifth Distinguished Flying
Cross. Less than three months later, something happened that changed his
life forever.
On October 4, 1957, Russia launched the first artificial
satellite, Sputnik 1. That event hurled the United States into the Space
Age. When President Kennedy announced that the U.S. would send a man to
the Moon, he was confident in this country's ability to achieve that
goal, in part because of the people willing to work toward that goal.
President Kennedy called space "a new ocean" and he named the
astronauts "admirals of that ocean". Becoming an astronaut was a new and
exciting career option in the early 1960's. Before the formation of
NASA, people mentioned astronauts only in the world of science fiction.
On October 1, 1958, NASA sent requests to commanding officers of
the Air Force, the Navy, and the Marines. NASA was searching for men
with the qualifications required to become part of the U.S. space
program. The men would be part of the first of three programs planned by
NASA, called Project Mercury. Project Mercury's objectives were to put a
man into orbit around the Earth, and to successfully recover the
astronaut and his spacecraft. Another goal of the Mercury program was to
explore the abilities of man in the strange and hostile environment of
space.
Candidates for the Mercury program had to be university
graduates, with a degree in the physical sciences or engineering. They
also had to be graduates from a military test pilot training school,
with a minimum of 1500 hours of flight time. They could be no taller
than five feet, eleven inches, and no more than 40 years old.
NASA received a list of possible candidates from the Armed Forces and,
from that list, had chosen one-hundred and ten of the best. NASA called
them in for interviews. When the men arrived for the meeting, NASA
officials asked if they would like to participate in a program that
would put a man in space. After the interviews, NASA narrowed down the
list of possibilities down to thirty-two names.
A team of the finest specialists in the medical field worked
with NASA to come up with one of the most extensive battery of physical
and psychological test imagined. The physical tests included the study
of blood and tissue samples, X-rays, and several different types of eye
examinations. Other tests involved the candidates' heart, circulation,
and nervous system. There were various lab tests related to the type of
work the men would carry out during space flights.
The tests subjected the men to accelerative forces, high-energy
noises, low barometric pressures, and thermal stresses. The medical team
evaluated their personalities, and tested their stress and fatigue
levels. There were also tests in the behavioral sciences, and in
anthropology.
On April 9, 1959, after an extensive battery of tests, NASA
chose Lieutenant Colonel John H. Glenn, Jr. and six others to become
astronauts in the Mercury Program. Once selected, those seven men began
evaluations and tests to determine their potentials.
NASA had to prepare its new astronauts for the dangers of space
flight. Hazardous physical conditions of space included the problems of
extreme temperatures, exposure to radiation, the absence of atmosphere,
and the problems associated with weightlessness. Space flight would
confine the astronauts within a small spacecraft in an unfamiliar
setting. Confinement may cause human beings to become mentally fatigued,
which, in turn, produces unsound judgment and impaired cognitive
thinking. NASA's medical team included an exercise program for the
astronauts to keep them alert while in space.
Besides all the space flight training, the astronauts spent a
large amount of time in the classroom. The astronauts studied
meteorology, computer applications, aerodynamics, and other
space-related subjects.
Astronauts had to become familiar with all spacecraft systems.
To accomplish this, the astronauts studied rocket engineering,
astronomy, basic mechanics, and navigation and communications systems.
Another segment of instruction for the astronauts involved
simulated test flights. They simulated liftoff, reentry, orbital
maneuvers, and lunar landings. They practiced survival training in the
desert, the jungle, and in the water. These procedures were in
anticipation of malfunctions in the spacecraft that would force the
astronauts to make an emergency landing hundreds of miles from the
selected landing site. The astronauts also participated in other
simulated emergencies.
Controlling the spacecraft was an important simulated test to
prepare the astronauts for tumbling about in space. It simulated three
types of turning motions; up and down; left to right; and front to back.
At times, they conducted all three turning motions at once.
Each astronaut specialized in certain aspects of the U.S. Space
Program. Glenn was responsible for the design of the cockpit, for the
layout of the controls, and for the instrumentation of the space
vehicle. He also contributed to the spacecraft's design by suggesting a
secondary power system for the space capsule.
NASA set up a threefold plan for sending a man to the Moon. They
called these programs Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo. Project Mercury began
in October of 1958. The project's objectives were to put a man into
space, keep him there, and return him safely to Earth.
Astronaut Alan B. Shepard was the first American in space aboard
the Mercury spacecraft Freedom 7, on May 5, 1961. His suborbital flight
lasted fifteen minutes. The second American in space was astronaut Gus
Grissom. He proved how valuable the water survival training was during
his suborbital flight on July 21, 1961. The bolts securing the hatch of
his spacecraft blew off prematurely after the capsule's splashdown. His
survival training prevented him from drowning.
NASA named John Glenn the backup pilot for the first two Mercury
flights but his turn to pilot a spacecraft of his own would come soon
enough. On November 29, 1961, NASA assigned Glenn to make the first
manned orbital flight. Glenn named the Mercury capsule Friendship 7
after the original seven, to honor his fellow astronauts.
They originally scheduled the flight of Friendship 7 for
December 20, 1961. Mechanical problems and bad weather conditions
postponed the flight. NASA delayed it ten times within two months. It
would have been enough to make anyone anxious and unnerved, but Glenn
took it in strides. He used the time to study and practice as he waited
for the big moment.
On February 20, 1962, millions of people watched as astronaut
John H. Glenn lifted off into space at 9:47 a.m. Seated on a couch
inside the Mercury capsule, Glenn was in orbit five minutes after
liftoff. They put the spacecraft into a low orbit using the craft's
guidance systems. NASA devised the systems to keep the spacecraft in an
upright position. Tracking stations were situated around the world,
monitoring his flight. A tracking station over Mexico picked up a signal
from the craft that showed that it was swinging to the right.
Due to a malfunction in the system, Glenn had to control his
spacecraft manually to maintain the proper position, or attitude. Glenn
managed it with cleverness and agility, as only an experienced pilot of
his stature could have done.
Glenn crossed the Atlantic Ocean, flew over Africa, the Indian
Ocean, and Australia. He flew over the Pacific Ocean, the West Coast of
the United States, and back over Florida. Each orbit took one and
one-half hours.
Glenn was slated to stay in space for seven orbits. However,
ground controllers received an indication that the head shield that
would protect his spacecraft may have loosened. Without the heat shield,
the capsule would not be able to survive the intense heat of reentry.
NASA decided to bring Glenn back after just three orbits. The
retrorocket pack, which slowed the capsule down to begin reentry, was
kept in place during the reentry to help hold the heat shield in place.
Glenn successfully splashed down four hours and 56 minutes after launch.
Later analysis of the capsule showed the heat shield was never loose;
the warning about a loose heat shield was an error.
Two days later, New York gave a parade in Glenn's honor.
Millions rushed to New York City to catch a glimpse of John Glenn. They
held parades in Washington, DC, in Cocoa Beach, Florida, in Glenn's
hometown, and in other cities, as well.
He received three more medals; The Navy's Astronaut Wings, The
Marine Corps' Astronauts Medal (a new insignia) and The Medal of Honor
from New York City. To commemorate his historic space flight, the United
States Post Office issued a four-cent stamp with a caption that read,
ÔU.S. Man in Space'. Glenn received the Distinguished Service Medal of
NASA, and the Hubbard Medal of the National Geographic Society, as well.
John Glenn served his country a second time by paving the way
for other manned space flights. Glenn made it possible for other
astronauts to travel to, and eventually land on, the Moon.
