Evening star., 1961-05-05

continued From First Page
capsule and deposit them on
the deck Of the Lake Cham
plain.
Last Chances
Fifty minutes before sched-
uled launching time. at about
7:35-the 150-foot gantry tower
was rolled back on the rails pro-
vided for that purpose. A
"cherry-picker" "a small cab
mounted at the end of a crane
like boom on a truck-was run
up close to the emergency es-
cape hatch Of the Mercury cap
sule.
The purpose of the cherry
picker was to give Comdr Shep-
ard an opportunity to get out
If it appeared that anything
untoward was likely to happen.
After the gantry rolled back,
the Mercury RedStone rocket
stood slim against the sky. At
its top, nearly 100 feet above
the ground, was a red, solid
fueled rocket with only one
purpose: to tear the Mercury
capsule away from the Red
stone with great force and speed
If the Redstone itself misbe-
haved.
At 8:47 am. the cherry
picker was run back from the
side Of the missile and the
gantry tower began to move
forward around the bird. An
official said an electronic COM
ponent called an inverter had
been found defective and it
would be necessary to replace
the item, necessitating at least
an hours delay.
Count Resumes
At about 9:35 am, the
gantry tower rolled back and
the cherry-picker resumed it's
watchful pose by the Mercury
capsule. The count was re-
sumed at $40 with T minus IS
minutes, indicating at that time
1915 am. blastoff.
Comdr. Shepard's big day be-
gan this morning when the as
tronaut's physician, DR.. Will
liam Douglas, awakened him in
the apartment in Hargar S
where he and his alternate, Col.
John H. Glenn. jr., had retired
at 1880 last night.
The countdown was already
an hour and halt underway
when Comdr. Shepard was
awakened. Although it had been
scheduled to start at 1880 am,
the countdown was begun an
hour early because Project Mer-
cury's managers desired an ex-
ira cushion" Of time.
Comdr. Shepard ate breakfast -,
shortly before 3 am. The meal !
was similar to the one he had ,
last Tuesday on the postponed !
initial attempt to launch the !
Mercury bird. 1t consisted Of :
orange juice, dried toast and :
jelly, poached eggs and a small !
beef filet wrapped in bacon.
At 1925 am, DR.. Douglas ,
and a psychologist, DR.. Robert ,
Voas. started the medical exam :
nations. DR.. Douglas reported, !
AS usual, he is in superb health !
and every bit as optimistic as :
ever"
Electrodes Placed
The job Of attaching of bio
sensors"-small electronic in
strumentS-began at $3.50 am.
The biosensors include elec-
trodes which are placed on tat
tooed reference marks at the
top and bottom of the breast
bone and the right and left
sides Of the rib cage.
This job completed, Comdr.
Shepard began "suiting up" at
4 am. It took about 20 min
utes for him to get into his
silver-colored. 25-pound, $4,000
flight uniform. At 4::30 am,
he began a pressure check to
make sure that his suit would
hold life-giving oxygen.
1t. Col. John A. Powers,
official spokesman for the
astronauts, said that when he
walked into Comdr. Shepard's
dressing room, Il found him
sitting in his pressure suit in a
mock up of the capsule couch
under S pounds per square inch
of pressure.
At 4:59 am, Comdr. Shepard
walked II steps from the front
door of Hangar S to the trans
fer van which carried him the
8 miles to the Redstone launch
ing pad.
NudgeS Nurse
As Comdr. Shepard left Han
gar S, he nudged 1st 1t. Do
lores O'Hara, the astronauts'
nurse, and said, Here I go,
Dee"
Preceded by DR.. Douglas and
Joe Schmidt. the expert In
charge of the vital pressure
suit, and followed by another
of his fellow astronauts, Air
Force Capt. Virgil I. Grissom,
Comdr. Shepard looked neither
right nor left, nor did he speak
as he passed a small cluster
OF reporters.
He carried in his right hand