Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1962-02-20

about what he was eating, a
Mercury spokesman said Col.
Glenn had two tubes of food
aboard, one containing soup
and one containing a meat
product, plus a supply of matted
milk tablets.
In the "weightless" situation
such as prevails in a space cap
sule in orbit, liquids cannot be
poured or drunk out of open
vessels. They must be squeezed
out of tubes. otherwise they
would form globules and float
around the space capsule.
There was no indication dur
ing Col. Glenn'S first orbit that
he was feeling any adverse
affects from the weightless
state.
Temperature Rise
1t took Col. Glenn only about
20 minutes to cross the Pacific
Ocean. The tracking station
at Guaymas on the Western
coast of Mexico reported tele-
metry contact-meaning read
able information from instru-
ments-at HOO am. Guaymas
said all systems appeared to be
go" although a slight rise in
cabin temperature-from 105
degrees to 108 degrees-was
noted. A Mercury spokesman
said this was "of not particular
concern at this time"
However, overheating in the
cabin was one of the things
that caused trouble in the flight
last November of Enos, the
astrochimp. Enos had to be
brought back to earth after
two orbits because of this, but
at the time space officials said
the difficulty could have cor
rected on board had a human
been occupying the capsule.
Peaceful Use
Designed originally as a
weapon of destruction, the spe-
cially modified Atlas intercon-
tinental ballistic missile was
being used today on a mission
of peaceful quest for knowledge.
Together the three Atlas en-
gines develop 100000 pounds of
thust, or about 9 million horse
power. This terrific package
of energy was needed to put the
one-ton Mercury capsule into
orbit.
AS it stood on the pad, Mer-
curry Atlas 6 weighed almost
exactly a quarter of a million
pounds. Such is the high price
one must pay for space travel
that 100 pounds of weight
would take off from the pad
for every pound that would go
into orbit.
The abort tower at the top
Of Mas stood almost II feet
high. Its sole purpose was to
help Col. Glenn get away in a
hurry in event of trouble at or
just after launch. At the ton
of the tower was a powerful
solid fuel rocket with three
nozzles.
The Mercury capsule itself
6 feet 10 inches in height ano
6 feet in diameter, is a small
and fragile craft for so bold
a mission. One could hardly
avoid making the parallel with
other frail craft in which adj
venturers had set out on earlier
voyages of discovery cookie.
shells like the Pinta, Nina anc
Santa Maria.
Awake at 2:20 Am.
Col. Glenn's big day begar
, at 2:20 am when he wa.
awakened in his Hanger
: quarters by the astronauts
physician. 1t. Col. William K
! Douglas.
The astronaut had retiree
early, shortly after 7 o'c:ocE
last night, after calling hi!
, wife, Annie. at their home a
, 1888 North Harrison street
l Arlington
After a shave and shower
Col. Glenn breakfasted OF
orange juice, scrambled eggs
a small filet, toast, jelly and ;
| caffein-free coffee substitute.
At 3 o'clock he underwear
physical examination TO
: about an hour. 1t included
psychological tests. His docto
? ,,;5o applied to four places OF
Col. Glenn's torso senSorS t,
radio back to earth informa
ton on his physical condition
> Puts Suit On
BY 4:30, Col. Glenn was il
: his 20-pound, aluminum-coate