Word: shield
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...picked up the ominous signal. At the Cape, Project Mercury officials huddled tensely, trying to decide what to do. The answer might mean life or searing death to John Glenn. The final decision was made by Operations Director Walter Williams: an attempt would be made to hold the heat shield in place by changing the re-entry procedure. The retrorocket packet was supposed to be jettisoned after the rockets themselves had been fired. But the packet itself was bound to the capsule by three thin metal bands. Williams figured that the bands might be strong enough to hold the shield...
...Sure. The TV and radio audiences were told by Lieut. Colonel John ("Shorty") Powers, press chief of Project Mercury (see PRESS) that there had been "an indication of a problem with the heat shield deployment switch. The signal apparently was erroneous." But at the time, neither the men on the ground nor the astronaut in the sky were so sure that the signal was wrong...
...like I'm going clear back to Hawaii," Glenn radioed. He could feel his body beginning to be squeezed by the buildup of G forces. Outside the window, he could see a fiery glow. It grew brighter and brighter. "It became apparent that something was tearing up the heat shield end of the capsule." Glenn said later. "There were large pieces anywhere from as big as the end of your finger to seven or eight inches in diameter that were coming past the window. You could see the fire and the glow from them ?big flaming chunks...
Glenn had made it. As it later turned out, Glenn's heat shield had been in place all along; a monitor in the capsule had been flashing a misleading signal to the ground. But John Glenn could not be certain that he was safe until he saw that the parachute which would lower his capsule gently into the Atlantic had opened. Said he the next day: "That's probably the prettiest of sight you ever saw in your life...
...Friendship 7 splashed into the Atlantic with a sizzle as the red-hot shield turned the sea water to steam. Surging ahead at flank speed, the destroyer Noa* began to race helicopters from the carrier Randolph to the scene. The Noa won, plucked the capsule out of the ocean at 3:01. Across the U.S., the TV audience sagged weakly with relief...