 Welcome to this edition of The Astronauts. I'm Lynn Bonderant. During this program, we will relive the historic spaceflight of John Glenn. In 1962, a Mercury spacecraft was launched into orbit. Called Friendship 7, this Mercury spacecraft carried Glenn around Earth three times. Now for our program. You've got speed, John Glenn. John will shut down when Friendship 7 should separate from the booster rocket and begin orbital flight. With film from an earlier Mercury capsule. 15,545 miles an hour. 300 miles a minute. Every heartbeat of John Glenn. Faces toward the dawn of the ocean flashes Friendship 7 far beyond human sight. Seen only by the electronic instruments of the coastal sentry as she records the lightning passage of the man in space. For heat journeys around our outracing the sun that needs 24 hours to circle the same globe of its origin. Directing its movements by hand control, much like a pilot, flies a plane. To check the status lights for the capsule's landing impact bag. Stations are now receiving an ominous chilling signal. An indication that the heat shield on Friendship 7 seems to have come loose. A decision must be made. The signal pulsing down from Friendship 7 indicates still that the heat shield is loose. Could the signal be erroneous? There is no way to tell. But if it's true, then John Glenn could perish in a searing inferno when he plunges back into the atmosphere. The retro rockets that slow the spacecraft and head it back toward Earth are strapped over the shield. If they were left on after retro fire, instead of being jettisoned as in normal reentry, then their straps might hold the shield in place before they burn off. They might possibly save Glenn from the 3,000 degrees of reentry heat until he's deep enough into the atmosphere for its force to hold the shield in place. But the decision must be made soon. Even now, Glenn is streaking toward the United States. And he must begin the retro sequence 300 miles west of California. If he's to land in the planned recovery area, 700 miles south and east of Florida. We'll give you the countdown for retro sequence, John. You're looking good. Friendship 7 is lost. Furnace-like heat of reentry has created a barrier of ionization around Friendship 7, holding all voice communication. Brakes is descent, slowing Friendship 7 from 17,500 miles an hour to 1,300 miles an hour in slightly over three minutes. And the forces of gravity slam against John Glenn until he weighs eight times his normal weight, waiting to recover Friendship 7. But John Glenn cannot hear the message. 4 p.m. Eastern Standard Time. Friendship 7 comes to rest aboard the United States destroyer, Noah. And John Glenn, a change of clothes, a breath of cool air, a short debriefing, heading for the aircraft carrier Randolph under the golden splendor of his fourth sunset. John Glenn's historic spaceflight paved the way for others to follow. Thank you for joining us for this edition of The Astronauts. I'm Lynn Bondran at the NASA Lewis Research Center in Cleveland, Ohio.