Highlight number one, Shepard Flight, liftoff of Freedom 7.

10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. Liftoff.
All right, liftoff, and the clock has started. Yes, sir, reading you loud and clear.

This is Freedom 7. The fuel is go. 1.2G, cabin at 14 psi, oxygen is go.
Cabin pressure is holding at 5.5. Cabin holding at 5.5.
Okay, it's a lot smoother now, a lot smoother.
Roger.
7, the fuel is go, 4G, 5.5 cabin, oxygen, go, all systems are go.

Highlight number two, Shepard Flight. Shepard describes the view and prepares for reentry.

From the periscope, what a beautiful view. Cloud cover over Florida, three to four tenths near the Eastern coast, obscures up through Hatteras. I can see Okeechobee, identify Andros Island, identify the reefs. Got retro sequence in retro attitude are green. Control is smooth. Retro 1. Very smooth. Retro 2.
Retro 3.
All three retros are fired.

Highlight number three, Shepard Flight. Shepard comments as main parachute deploys.

Main on green. Main shoot is reefed. Main shoot is green. Main shoot is coming unreefed and it looks good.
The main shoot is good. Rate of descent is reading about 35 feet per second.
I am at 7,000 feet. The main shoot is good. The landing bag is on green. My perioxide has dumped. My condition is good.

Highlight number four, Grissom Flight, liftoff of Liberty Bell 7.

Roger, this is Liberty Bell 7, the clock is operating.
Loud and clear, Jose, don't cry too much. Okay, doc.
Okay, it's a nice ride up to now.
Loud and clear.
Roger.
Okay, the fuel is go, about 1 and 1/4 G's, cabin pressure is just coming off the pig, the oxygen is go, we have 26 amps.
Roger, pitch 88, trajectory is good.
Roger, looks good here.

Highlight number five, Grissom Flight. Grissom describes the view.

There's a lot of stuff floating around up here.
Okay, I'm going to skip the yob or roll because I'm a bit late, and I got to try this left yaw maneuver. But all I can really see is clouds. I haven't seen any land anyplace yet.
Roger, you're on the window. Are you trying a yaw maneuver?
I'm trying a yaw maneuver and I'm on the window. It's such a fascinating view out the window you just can't help but look out that way.

Highlight number six, Grissom Flight. Grissom comments during reentry.

Okay, everything is very good. We got O5G and the roll rate has started.
Roger.
Got a pitch rate in here.
Okay, the Gs are starting to build.
Roger, reading you loud and clear.
Roger.
G's are building. We're up to six.
There's nine.
There's about 10.
Roger, still sound good.
Okay, the altimeter is active at 65.
Roger, 65,000.
Okay, I'm getting some contrail, evidently shockwave. 50,000 feet. I'm feeling good.

Highlight number seven, Glenn Flight, liftoff of Friendship 7.

In God speed, John Glenn. 10, 9, 8, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 3, 2, 1, 0.
Roger, the clock is operating. We're underway.
Loud and clear, Roger, we're programming in roll. Okay.
A little bumpy along about here.
Roger.
Stand by for 20 seconds, Roger.
3, 2, 1, mark.
Roger, backup clock is started.

Highlight number eight, Glenn Flight, orbit number one. Glenn achieves weightlessness in orbit and describes the view.

Fico. That was a great ride, okay.
Roger, 0G and I feel fine. Capsule is turning around.
Oh, that view is tremendous.
Capsule turning around and I could see the booster during turn around, just a couple of hundred yards behind me. It was beautiful.
Roger 7, you have a go with at least seven orbits.
Roger, understand, go for at least seven orbits.

Highlight number nine, Glenn Flight, orbit number one. Glenn describes the view in detail.

This is Friendship 7. Uh, at this mark, at this present time, I still have some uh uh clouds visible below me. Uh the sunset was beautiful. It went down very rapidly. I still have a brilliant blue band uh clear across the horizon almost covering my whole window. Uh the redness of the sunset I can still see through some of the clouds way over to the left of my course. Uh the sky above is absolutely black, completely black. I can see stars so up above I do not have any of the constellations identified as yet, over.

Highlight number 10, Glenn Flight, orbit number three. Glenn receives instructions to leave the retro pack on during reentry.

This is Texas CapCom, Friendship 7. We are recommending that you leave the retro package on through the entire reentry. This means that you will have to override the 05G switch, which is expected to occur at 0443 3. This also means that you will have to manually retract the scope. Do you read?
This is Friendship 7, what is the reason for this? Do you have any reason, over?
Not at this time. This is the judgment of flight.
All right, Roger, say again your instructions please, over.
We are recommending that the retro package not, I say again, not be jettisoned. This means that you will have to override the 05G switch, which is expected to occur at 044353. This is approximately 4 and a half minutes from now. This also means that you will have to retract the scope manually. Do you understand?
All right, Roger, understand, I will have to make a manual 05G entry when it occurs and bring the scope in manually. Is that affirm?
That is affirmative, Friendship 7.

Highlight number 11, Glenn Flight, reentry, Glenn comments during reentry.

This is Friendship 7, I think the pack just let go.
This is Friendship 7, a real fireball outside.

Highlight number 12, Excerpts from astronaut Glenn's post flight press conference.

Uh first off, I uh it was quite a day. I don't know what you can say about a day in which you see four beautiful sunsets in one day, but it's pretty interesting. Uh three in orbit and one on the surface after I was back aboard the ship. But this is a little unusual, I think. I think the best words I've just about heard in my life were you have a seven orbit capability from Al Shepard here when he gave the the uh go to me over from the capsule communicator's position. That was a very welcome sound. I don't want to go into a lot of details on the launch, I I don't think they're necessary, I think all that uh has been pretty well covered from what I've I've uh seen in the papers. As to our after insertion, then, as to the effect of 0G. This of course is one of the big things that we have wondered about through the early phases of the program, wondering what effect 0G would have. This puts us into a new a new environment that we have had no experience or limited experience with before in airplanes. Uh we extended this realm of weightlessness, of course, during uh the redstone shots that Alan and Gus had, and we're extending it farther here. And I'm very happy to report that there just was no ill effect at all that I got from 0G. Uh it was very pleasant as a matter of fact. Uh we had no tendency to particularly overreach switches or uh have any trouble with the controls as a result of 0G. It was indeed a very, very pleasant experience. Some of the things that happened under 0G uh sort of demonstrate how fast, though, uh a human being adapts to this situation. I recall last night when we were discussing some of these things, the fact that I had had this little hand camera once and I had taken a picture, and I wanted to do something with a switch immediately. And it just seemed natural at that time after I'd been weightless for I I guess it was a half hour or 45 minutes, uh I had I had acclimated to this rapidly enough that it just seemed perfectly natural, rather than put the camera away, I just let put it out in mid-air and let go of it and went ahead with the switch position here and reached back to the camera and went on with the work. And uh I remembered thinking afterwards that this uh we were treating this pretty blasé at the time here, but I think it demonstrates the the point I'm making is uh is that I think we all adapt very, very rapidly to these new situations. The sunsets are probably the most impressive thing that you would see in orbital flight. These are very brilliantly colored hue and the colors stretch out way out from the sun to the horizon. The horizon stays light for I would estimate some four to five minutes after sunset, which I found rather surprising because I thought that darkness would come on much more rapidly than that. I thought it would be just a matter of maybe a minute after uh the sun went down, but apparently there's quite a bit of of light uh curving around through the atmosphere that keeps the horizon very visible for a period of some five minutes or so. We had some problems during the flight, the automatic stabilization and control system was uh causing some difficulty. I didn't appear to be correcting up the way it should. Was able to use the manual control during that period, and this appeared to just didn't cause any trouble at all. It was seem very natural to take over manual control after all the uh trainer work we've done. Trainer simulations, incidentally, were very, very close uh to the orbital control situation. This was particularly particularly true in the fly-by-wire mode, where we control through the automatic thrusters. When we started having this problem at the end of the first orbit, uh I was largely on manual control from there on until the end of the flight. The other observations we had planned to make had to go by the board uh while I tried to work out the control system problems. And we spent most of the last two orbits working on this, making some other observations, but largely concentrating probably 90% of the time on the control system. Ground, as most of you probably know, the ground telemetry receivers had uh picked up an impulse that we possibly uh had a loose heat shield. And for that reason, it was deemed advisable to keep the retro package in place during reentry so that it would go ahead and burn off. But by that time, we would be in a high enough aerodynamic force field to keep the heat shield in place in case it was in fact loose. This uh made a pretty spectacular reentry from the capsule standpoint, because as the retro pack, as I retained the retro package, and entered into the first part of the high heat area of the reentry, uh the straps on the retro package broke loose and I felt a bump on the capsule and thought that the retro package had jettisoned, as it was supposed to do. Apparently, this was not true.

that I thought so at the time. As it went and it a he falls it and this really picks up that select picks up this uh  that uh it becomes apparent that something was tearing up, but say, let's the heat shield to the collapse because we're lodge pieces from many of from pieces because the heat shield to pieces  17 feet is the diameter where we're looking offing off to the capsule, coming back out past the window. Well, this uh obviously was the retro package tearing up and and breaking off as we we knew it would if it had been retained. I thought at that time, however, that the retro package had already been jettison. So there were some moments of doubt there as to whether the heat shield had been damaged and whether it might be tearing up itself. And this uh this could have been a bad day all the way around if that had been the case. But it was very spectacular looking out into this uh orange glow outside the window, bright orange glow, and seeing these big flaming chunks go go back along the flight path.
Highlight number 13, Carpenter flight, liftoff of Aurora 7.
5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. I feel the liftoff. The clock has started. Uh Roger. How did clear got? 107. Standby for uh the time tag. Roger. A little bit of shaking. Pretty smooth. 3, 2, 1, mark. Roger, the backup clock has started. Where blue sky. 32 seconds, 9,000, fuel and oxygen steady. Cabin pressure 151 and dropping. A little rough for a max Q. at 1 minute.
Highlight number 14, Carpenter flight, Orbit number one. Carpenter describes fireflies seen over Hawaii.
I have the fireflies. I have the particles. I was facing away from the sun at sunrise and I did not see the particles. Just just they're ying about 180 degrees I was able to pick up at this. Stand by. I think I see more. There was one random motions. Some even appeared to be going ahead. There is one outside. Almost like a light snowflake particle caught in an eddy. Uh They are not glowing with their own light at this time.
Highlight number 15, Carpenter flight, orbit number one, Carpenter sends greetings in Spanish to Guymas, Mexico.
and mark coastal passage. Say again. Mark, coastal passage, coming over the uh Baja. How does it look? Half covered with clouds. And uh And the other half is dry. Will you pass on uh this message uh for me Gordo to all the troops at the Guymas? Hola, amigos. Felicita. a México y especialmente a mi amigos de Guymas. Desde el espacio exterior, su país está cubierto con nubes. And uh uh it's also se me muy bello. Aquí el tiempo está muy bueno. Buena suerte desde Aurora 7. Ah, Roger. Muchas gracias, amigo. Okay.
Highlight number 16, Carpenter flight, Orbit number two, Carpenter comments on food in space.
Uh yes, I have. However, the food has crumbled badly and I hate to open the package anymore for fear of getting crumbs all over the uh the uh capsule. I can verify that eating bite-size uh food as we packaged for this flight is no problem at all. Even the crumbly foods uh are eaten with no with no problem.
Highlight number 17, Carpenter flight, re-entry, Carpenter comments during re-entry period.
my fuel. I hope old out. There is 1G getting a few streamers of smoke. Out behind, there's some green flashes out there. The entry is going pretty well. Our camp seems to be keeping the oscillations uh pretty good. We're at 1 and 1/2 G's now. There was a Flaming piece coming off. Almost looked like it came off the power. Oh, I hope not. Okay, we're reading 3 G's. I think we'll have to let the re-entry uh checking check go this time.
Reading now, four Gs, the re-entry seems to be going okay. We're getting some pretty good oscillations now and we're out of fuel. Looks from the sun like it might be about 45 degrees. Oh, it's coming. Like it's really going over. I think I better take a try a drog. Drog out manually at 25 and it's holding and uh it was just in time main. Deploy. Few switches on now. 21 indicated. Snorkel. Override. How? Emergency flow rate on. Emergency main. Fuse switch at 15. Lending by for the main. Shoot at 10. Cabin pressure. Cabin altimeter. Agree on altitude. Should be 13,000 now. Okay. 10. I see the The main is out and reefed. And it looks good to me. The main shoot is out.
Highlight number 18, Shara flight, liftoff of Sigma 7.
I have left off quite the started and she feels real nice. You pull your gear up and for the fight. Yeah, I got the pins on my office wall. Altimeters off the pad. And I got the 20 seconds. Okay. 3, 2, 1, Mark. Roger backup starting and running good. Give you a hike at my 30. No, she's riding beautiful, dude.
Highlight number 19, Shara flight, Orbit number one. Shara describes the view and recommends improvements for future manned flights.
The lightning looks like a big blot rather than a jagged streak that we're used to seeing on earthbound. Uh it just looks like a big uh almost like a anti-aircraft shot, a big flap of bright light and then it fades out almost instantaneously. One definitely gets the illusion of looking way up above you at this altitude. And there is no horizon. It's just a black sky. The amount of light in the cockpit is quite high once one gets adapted. And It can be reduced of course, by the cabin light. There's a pair that in future flights, they must have some catch-all device that we can stuff objects into and have them trapped there for a period of time. I'm driving at the problem of the washer and small crump piece of metal, which I believe I finally got stuffed into the little bag on the hatch. The temperature is just holding its own. I am hot and probably we'll have to decrease these settings. And sure I don't understand why the circuit takes so long to react. Finally, cabin circuit works beautifully.
Highlight number 20, Cooper flight, liftoff of Faith 7.
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Roger, liftoff and the clock is operating. Sigma 7, Faith 7 on the way. Standing by to start the backup clock. Roger. 3 2 1 mark. Roger, and the backup clock is running.
Highlight number 21, Cooper's post-flight comments, recorded during Project Mercury summation.
This is a new and strange environment at first. This suddenly finding yourself in orbit and want to take a few seconds time to think about this and uh and see just what you're doing up here. It takes you a few minutes to really settle down. Uh the added distraction is that you there is the Earth in view out of the window. It is a tremendous distraction. You want to glue your eyes on the window and watch every little detail of everything that's going on there. But the many hours of training in the simulators that we have seem to take over and you get right back on the flight plan and follow them pretty closely there, and do the functions that you have planned on doing at the proper time.
Highlight number 22, Cooper's prayer, repeated before joint session of Congress.
I'm not too much of a preacher, but while on the flight on the 17th orbit, I felt so inclined to put a small prayer onto the tape recorder of the spacecraft. It was over the middle of the Indian Ocean in the middle of the night. Things have been going so beautifully. Everything has been working correctly. And it was an ideal flight. I've been encouraged to read a little transcript of this prayer as an ending. I would like to take this time to say a little prayer for all the people, including myself involved in this launch operation. Father, thank you, especially for letting me fly this flight. Thank you for the privilege of being able to be in this position, to be in this wondrous place, seeing all these many startling, wonderful things that you have created. Help, guide, and direct all of us that we may shape our lives to be much better Christians, trying to help one another and to work with one another, rather than fighting and bickering. Help us to complete this mission successfully. Help us in our future space endeavors that we may show the world that democracy really can compete and still are able to do things in a big way. And are able to do research, development, and conduct many scientific and technical programs. Be with all our families, give them guidance and encouragement, and let them know that everything will be okay. We ask in thy name. Amen. Thank you.
Highlight number 23, Cooper's wrap-up of Project Mercury, recorded at Project Mercury summation.
Each flight, each man had observations to make that we could never have forecast, or he saw things that no one knew for sure that he would be able to see or wouldn't be able to see, or things that were completely unexpected. And these have contributed tremendously

this later, the advancement of manned space flight. In fact, the advancement of science as a whole. We feel, as a pilot group, that pilots are an integral part of space flight. I think that Mercury has shown that man is adaptable to this new and strange environment and he can contribute immeasurably to their liability in the completion of space flights. The pilot has successfully completed three out of four orbital flights that an automatic system would not have. We have had 100% success on our manned flights. I think that we can hold Mercury up and say that it has been a real good example of a program that has run surprisingly close to its schedule.