When We Left Earth: The NASA Missions (2008): Season 1, Episode 1 - Mercury: Ordinary Supermen - full transcript

[ Crowd cheering ]

NARRATOR: In 1969, a group
of astronauts change the world.

They ride the biggest rocket
ever built to the moon.

It's the culmination

of more than 10 years
of space pioneering

and a foundation
for more than four decades

of exploring worlds
beyond our own.

This is the story
of our greatest adventure.

In the high desert
of California,

NASA tests
an experimental rocket plane.

The X-15.



They want to put a man
into space. . .

. . . and they're in a hurry.

ARMSTRONG:
Rockets were powering aircraft

at higher and higher speeds.

The X-15 had enough energy

to zoom to altitudes
above the atmosphere.

NARRATOR:
The X-15 flies so high,

pilots experience weightlessness

and look out
into the darkness of space.

But even at 600,000 horsepower,

it would need to fly
four times its top speed

to put a man into orbit.

The Soviet Union holds
an early lead in the space race,

Launching the first unmanned
satellite to orbit the Earth.



BARBREE: On October 4, 1 957,
when Sputnik went into orbit,

people were so upset.

They said, "These people
can't build a refrigerator.

How can they get into orbit?

How did this happen?"

MAN:
5. . . 4. . . 3. . . 2. . . 1 . . .

NARRATOR:
To beat the Soviets,

NASA must launch a man
into Earth orbit.

Only rockets
could go fast enough --

more than 17,000 miles per hour.

They call the program
Project Mercury

and rally a team of determined
young scientists and engineers

to figure out how to fly
a military missile

with a man on top.

KRANZ: Most of us came in
from aircraft flight desks,

and we knew nothing
about rocketry,

or we knew nothing
about spacecraft.

We knew nothing about orbits.

NARRATOR: Gene Kranz
joins the flight director's team

in NASA's earliest days.

KRANZ: So it was a question
of learning to drink

from a fire hose.

We had to learn
all about trajectories.

I'd never heard
the term "retrofire,"

coming on down from orbit,

getting the spacecraft
back home.

NARRATOR: Kranz develops many of
the mission-control procedures

for launching a man into space.

The Mercury program was --

To me,
it was the most challenging,

because we had to
virtually invent or adapt

every tool that we used.

NARRATOR: No man has ever
survived a vertical blast-off

on top of a rocket.

The risks are extremely high.

At first, even stuntmen
are considered for the job.

GLENN:
There were suggestions

they take people
like Evel Knievel

or race drivers
or something like that.

And then
President Eisenhower said

he'd rather have it be
military test pilots.

NARRATOR: Test pilots
are trained to operate

and analyze
experimental flying machines.

110 of the military's
best pilots qualify.

NASA selects the top seven.

MAN:
These, ladies and gentlemen,

are the nation's
Mercury astronauts.

[ Applause ]

NARRATOR:
The Mercury Seven astronauts

become instant celebrities.

The press
follows their every move.

BARBREE:
You knew these guys.

You lived with these guys.
You socialized with them.

They were the story.

Wally Schirra, a man of detail,

made the best textbook flight
of them all.

Alan Shepard, extremely smart.

Scott Carpenter,
the first scientist astronaut.

Gordo Cooper,
the best pilot of the bunch.

Deke, nobody messed with.

Great human being in every way.

Gus Grissom, engineering savvy,
quiet intellect.

John Glenn, civilized man,
probably the most level-headed.

NARRATOR: Glenn is already
a public figure,

after making the first
cross-country supersonic flight.

But even for a Marine,
astronaut training is intense.

GLENN: They ran us through every
check they knew how to run.

I think, every medical test

they knew how to do
on the human body.

It was a very thorough
going-through.

MAN:
Prepare to be at 0.5 G.

NARRATOR: To carry the first
astronaut safely into space,

NASA designs
a pressurized capsule.

The one-man spacecraft
replaces a nuclear warhead

as the payload
for a Redstone missile.

But they're not ready
to launch men into space.

I saw a lot of rockets launched.

I'd say that somewhere between
30% and 40% of them failed.

A lot of them
came up off the pad

and went the opposite direction.

Some of them got
halfway off the pad and blew up.

Some of them got to 10,000 feet

and turned the other way
and blew up.

GLENN: The whole thing crumbled
and blew up.

It looked like an atomic bomb
went off almost over our heads.

We got a big kick out of
watching the Mercury astronauts.

It was great
looking at their eyes.

GLENN: We're looking at this
thing and looking at each other

and deciding we want to go back
and talk to the engineers

a little more
before we go further.

NARRATOR:
Engineers make the rockets

more reliable for manned flight,

but doctors still aren't
convinced the man on top

will be able to function
in the weightlessness of space.

There was grave doubt in about
98% of the medical community

that the man
could perform a task

when flying in zero gravity,

that he would have
trouble seeing,

that he would have
trouble swallowing,

he would have
trouble breathing. . .

he would have trouble talking.

We had to prove
to the medical community

that man would survive,
in the first place,

and, secondly,
that he could do a task.

NARRATOR:
It's not made public,

but John Glenn, Alan Shepard,
and Gus Grissom

are on NASA's short list to be
America's first man in space.

GLENN:
We were all very competitive.

We wanted to get
those first flights.

NARRATOR:
January 1961 --

The rocket and capsule
are finally ready to fly.

But none of the astronauts
are happy about NASA's choice.

A specially trained chimpanzee
named Ham

will fly
the next Mercury mission.

CARPENTER: There was a group
of professional naysayers

in Washington who insisted
that we do some more work

to prove a 5-minute flight
wouldn't be fatal to man.

NARRATOR:
NASA's medical team sends Ham

as a final test
that man can function in zero G.

The astronauts fear
they're losing precious time.

BARBREE:
None of them liked it.

Alan was fighting
to get rid of the chimpanzee.

He didn't want the chimpanzee
to take up a rocket,

to take up a seat.

NARRATOR:
January 31 , 1961 --

Ham blasts off on
a suborbital mission into space.

MAN:
2. . . 1 . . . 0.

Lift-off.

[ Man speaking indistinctly
on radio ]

NARRATOR:
While weightless,

Ham's put through a series
of tests and performs well.

Physically,
he's unaffected by zero G.

Ham splashes down off-target.

He's fatigued, dehydrated,
but generally in good shape.

His mission proves
man can function in space.

But doubts remain about
the reliability of the rockets,

and they still don't know
who will fly first.

CARPENTER: It had been
a big mystery for a long time --

Who's gonna fly first?

The director
of the Manned Spacecraft Center

finally reveals his choice.

CARPENTER:
Bob Gilruth came to our office,

and he named Al
for the first ballistic flight.

BARBREE: Alan Shepard
was chosen to be the first,

because he was considered
to be the smartest

of the seven astronauts.

They felt, if Alan, on the first
one, had anything went wrong,

he was more apt
to be able to analyze

or fix or do
or get it out of trouble.

NARRATOR: After more tests
and more delays,

NASA still hopes
to put the first man in space.

GLENN: There was certainly
competition in the group.

Nevertheless,
when it came time for a flight,

we worked together as closely
as anybody could work together.

LUNNEY: We had done everything
we know how to do

to make this
as safe as we can make it.

We're done with all the tests,

so we stand around and look
at each other one last time

and ask, "Okay, are we really
ready to light this candle?"

Eventually, the answer
to that has to be "yes."

NARRATOR: Alan Shepard's
suborbital mission

finally has a launch date --
May 2nd.

But, on April 12th,
NASA receives stunning news.

The Soviet Union puts a man into
orbit and brings him back alive.

Cosmonaut Yury Gagarin
becomes the first man in space

just 20 days before Shepard
is scheduled to fly.

KRAFT: We were all very angry
about not being able to fly

as quickly as we could have.

And we would have beaten Gagarin
into space had we done that.

CARPENTER:
Al was not pleased at all.

He was very disappointed

that he was not to be
the first spaceman.

And I was hoping for my friend
Alan Shepard beyond hope

that he would be first,

and it tears you up
to know he could have been.

NARRATOR:
Yet many milestones lie ahead.

The space race
has only just begun.

BARBREE:
John Glenn said, "Let's face it.

They beat the pants off of us.

Now let's all go on, and let's
learn how to fly in space."

NARRATOR: 23 days later --
May 5, 1961 , 2:40 a.m. --

Shepard's preflight medical.

After three days of delays,
the final countdown has begun.

BARBREE:
He was a cool cat.

But Alan Shepard
was an educated daredevil.

Everybody was praying
Alan could survive in space.

MAN:
Inboard cutoff.

-MAN #2: Inboard engines out.
-MAN: Inboard cutoff.

It was very exciting,
very frightening,

to see a man come out
of the trailer that he was in. . .

to look up at that vehicle. . .

ride the elevator up,

and then wait for us
to get ready to launch.

NARRATOR:
5:21 a.m. --

Technicians strap him
into the capsule.

Until the hatch is opened again,

Shepard's only link to the world
is Deke Slayton,

the mission's Cap Com,
or capsule communicator.

NARRATOR:
Downrange in the Atlantic,

the Navy prepares
for Shepard's recovery.

45 million Americans watched
the launch live on television.

Local beaches
offer a front-row seat.

BARBREE: Everybody,
including myself, came here.

We came any way we could.

The excitement here --

If you can imagine a million
people outside these gates,

trying to push through
these fences,

trying to see
what they could see.

Everybody was praying
and pushing for Alan Shepard.

MAN:
T.M. is a go.

We have a momentary hold.

KRANZ: As the countdown
progressed, we had frustrations.

They had problems
with the spacecraft hatch.

And Alan Shepard
was getting impatient.

NARRATOR: Four hours later,
Shepard is losing his cool.

SHEPARD:
[ Speaking indistinctly ]

MAN: Okay, if you would like
to get an estimate. . .

KRAFT: You could see
Alan Shepard's heart rate go up,

and it reached above 200.

Lord knows
what my heart rate was.

CARPENTER: There's nothing wrong
with being frightened.

It makes you do a better job.

NARRATOR:
But no one at Mission Control

wants to give the final "go"
for launch.

KRAFT: all of us
were extremely apprehensive.

We had never had a human being
on the topside of a rocket.

MAN:
Resume the count.

MAN #2:
I'm gonna turn it over. . .

NARRATOR:
It's Alan Shepard who decides

they've waited long enough.

Finally, he says,
"Let's light this candle.

Let's go."

MAN: T-Minus 10. . . 9. . .
8. . . 7. . . 6. . . 5. . .

BARBREE:
He had one single-line prayer

that he said
just before ignition.

"Don't mess this up."

But he didn't say "mess."

MAN: Ignition.

all right, lift-off,
and the clock has started.

It was sort of like the first
hit in a football game.

BARBREE:
When that Mercury Redstone

rose above the tree line,

cars stopped.

People got out, hit their knees,
and literally prayed.

SHEPARD:
This is Freedom 7. . .

KRANZ:
We saw that guy go,

and we could track him
for about the first 20 seconds

as he went
through powered flight,

and then back down
at the consoles

and look at the data
and listen to the calls.

SHEPARD:
Pressure is holding at 5.5.

Cabin holding at 5.5.

BARBREE:
He is disappearing.

Here's a man
going over 100 miles into space.

SHEPARD: Cabin 5.5.

He looked so lonely up there.

NARRATOR:
Five minutes after lift-off,

Alan Shepard becomes
America's first man in space.

Shepard's suborbital flight

reaches 116 miles
above the Earth, then descends.

MAN: The retro -- 5. . . 4. . . 3. . . 2.
Go ahead.

NARRATOR: NASA still fears
the high g-forces

or extreme temperatures
of reentry could kill him.

There was no question, we --
We were sweating bullets.

MAN:
Mr. Shepard, okay?

SHEPARD: Okay.

Okay.

MAN:
Mr. Shepard, okay?

NARRATOR:
As expected, Mission Control

loses radio contact with Shepard
during reentry.

[ Static ]

SLAYTON:
Freedom 7, this is Cap Com.

Do you read me?

7, this is Cap Com.
Do you read me?

In Mission Control,
we're absolutely helpless.

SLAYTON:
Freedom 7, this is Cap Com.

Do you read me?

7, this is Cap Com.
Do you read me?

SLAYTON: Roger.

KRANZ: The mission only lasted
about 20 minutes.

But this was the purest,
happiest 20 minutes

of our entire life.

MAN: He just hit the water
a moment ago.

A cheer went up from
the ship company watching him

from all decks
on the aircraft carrier.

KRAFT:
I think he proved,

without a question
in anybody's mind,

that man, indeed, could perform
almost any task in a spacecraft.

This was our first man in space.

And it was total joy.

BARBREE: The excitement of it --
That has never been matched.

When Alan Shepard went,
it was the unknown.

It was the unknown.

NARRATOR: Just 20 days later,
President John Kennedy

sets a new goal
for America's space program.

PRESIDENT KENNEDY:
I believe that this nation

should commit itself
to achieving the goal,

before this decade is out,
of landing a man on the moon

and returning him safely
to the Earth.

LUNNEY: This young president
of ours gets up and says,

"We're gonna go to the moon
and we're gonna land there

and we're gonna bring the people
back home within the decade."

I was staggered or stunned
or overwhelmed

by the scale of the challenge.

NARRATOR: The first American
has barely reached space,

and NASA still
hasn't put a man into orbit.

But the countdown to
the end of the decade has begun.

KRANZ: We had the knowledge,
the moxie, and the will

to not only catch up
but surpass and beat them

in the business of space flight.

NARRATOR: NASA wants to put
another man into space

in a hurry,

to prove Shepard's mission
was no fluke.

BARBREE: They figure
Gus Grissom is the engineer,

so Gus will make
the second flight,

and he'll be looking out
for our engineering question.

NARRATOR: But the intense
training prepares them

to do very little
actual flying in space.

Seven of the world's best pilots

want a spacecraft
they can control.

GRISSOM:
Gus was somewhat frustrated,

because the people
that were putting this together

were trying to make it

so that the astronaut
really had nothing to do.

He was just riding
in this thing.

KRAFT: It took a while
to convince the pilots

that we wanted to use
their talents

in making the machine better.

Then they realized that's what
we were trying to do,

and we had a great relationship
with the seven astronauts

for that very reason.

GLENN: We split up the duties
in the group itself.

And one of my duties
was in cockpit layout --

organizing your instrument panel

so you get the information
when you need it.

Deke was gonna follow
booster development for us.

Scott, I think,
was on navigation

and how we're gonna keep track
of where this thing is.

Gus Grissom
had the whole recovery effort. . .

and organizing the Navy.

So each of us had sort of
a specialty area like that.

NARRATOR:
NASA redesigns the capsule.

Grissom will have
greater control

over the flight
of his spacecraft

and a new explosive
escape hatch.

Grissom names his capsule
Liberty Bell 7.

It has another important,
new feature.

GLENN: In the original
spacecraft design,

there was no window.

The reason was that
that was gonna add weight --

not only the window itself,
which had to be thick,

but the support structure
around it.

And weight was critical.

NARRATOR: 10 weeks
after Alan Shepard's flight,

Gus Grissom is ready
for a second suborbital mission.

Shepard is Grissom's Cap Com.

MAN:
4. . . 3. . . 2. . . 1 . . . 0.

SHEPARD: Lift-off!

SHEPARD:
I understand.

NARRATOR: 15 minutes
and 37 seconds after blast-off,

nearly a bull's-eye splashdown.

The capsule had landed
in the water.

At that point,
we thought it had gone well.

NARRATOR:
Another perfect flight.

Mission Control celebrates.

KRANZ: It was the joy of having
a successful mission.

Came off like a piece of cake.

Gus was sitting there minding
his own business,

and, all at once, it was pow.

The hatch blew, and water
started coming in over the side.

NARRATOR:
The capsule starts sinking.

Grissom has only moments
to escape.

The space suit is designed
to keep him afloat.

He had forgot to close
one of the valves in his suit,

and it was letting water in.

NARRATOR:
No longer a life preserver,

the suit fills with water
and drags him under.

GRISSOM: The prop wash
from the helicopter

was starting to cause him
a big problem.

He was very close to drowning.

NARRATOR:
Unaware Gus is in trouble,

helicopter pilot Jim Lewis

tries to save
the sinking capsule first.

LEWIS: We almost had it free and
out, but every time it came out,

a wave would come along and grab
it and pull it back down.

KRANZ: In Mission Control,
we were absolutely helpless.

We were watching the helicopter
trying to grapple

and lift the spacecraft up.

And we could see Gus struggling
out there in the rotor wash.

And in Mission Control,

a lot of us were saying,
"Forget the spacecraft!

Get Gus, get Gus, get Gus!"

NARRATOR: Suddenly,
Lewis has another problem.

A warning light indicates
his engine is overheating.

LEWIS:
Normally, when that happened,

you had about 5 minutes' worth
of engine power

before experiencing
an engine failure.

I didn't want Gus in my aircraft

in the event
that we lost the engine.

[ Man speaking indistinctly
on radio ]

We were gonna lose him.

NARRATOR: A second chopper
rushes in to pick up Grissom. . .

. . . as Lewis struggles
with the capsule.

Grissom is safe.

But Liberty Bell 7 and all
its invaluable data are lost.

The entire spacecraft sank
in 3 miles of water,

which was deeper
than the Titanic.

And we had no vehicles that were
capable of doing recovery.

KRANZ:
We lost the spacecraft.

But we got our crewman back.

Gus was destroyed
about losing his capsule.

He said that that was the only
craft that he ever lost.

NARRATOR: President Kennedy
congratulates Grissom,

but suborbital flights
aren't enough.

America is still coming
in second in the race for space.

And NASA still hasn't fulfilled

the primary goal
of Project Mercury --

launching a man into orbit
and bringing him home alive.

They said, "There's no sense
in hanging around here."

GLENN: The Soviets
were claiming superiority

to the United States.

They had already made
orbital flights,

and so the pressure was on us

to see whether
we could do the same thing.

BARBREE:
Everybody loved John Glenn

simply because of his talent
to deal with the public.

NARRATOR:
In his capsule, Friendship 7,

John Glenn will attempt
NASA's first orbital mission.

After more than a month
of delays,

he's finally ready to fly.

KRANZ: We lived in a motel
about 15 miles south

of the space center.

And every morning when we'd get
ready to come out to work,

we'd go and look and see

if the searchlights were on
on the launchpad.

If the searchlights were on,

we felt pretty confident
driving in,

because somebody
was there doing something

and the countdown was
more than likely progressing.

You felt,
"Okay, we're going for it.

We're gonna get it today."

NARRATOR: NASA needs more power
to put a spacecraft into orbit.

The larger Atlas rocket
will blast Glenn

162 miles above the Earth at
a speed of 17,500 miles an hour.

BARBREE: John Glenn --
He was a fighter pilot

in world War II and Korea.

He had three different aircraft

that were literally
shot out from under him,

and he managed
to fly those things home.

So they said,
"John will bring it back down."

NARRATOR: Glenn will orbit
the Earth three times.

NASA's biggest concern --

Shepard and Grissom were
weightless for five minutes.

Glenn will be weightless
for nearly five hours.

Someone had predicted that,
in zero G,

your eyes no longer needed
to be supported

by the structure under the eye

and that your eye would
gradually change shape in orbit.

Your eye might change enough,

you would have trouble seeing
the instrument panel.

NARRATOR: NASA has tracking
stations all over the world.

KRAFT: We had the capability
to track spacecraft by radar,

and we had the capability
of getting EKG

and heart rate
and breath rate,

as well as telling us what
was going on in the spacecraft.

MAN: There will be no smoking
in the blackout

until further notice.

MAN #2:
T-Minus 7.

-We might have it by then.
-MAN: Roger.

GLENN: I'd been through all
of that -- 11 scheduled dates

and three times up there.

So, when it finally came,
it was almost a surprise to go.

When you're out there and you're
actually on the launchpad,

there's no way to simulate that.

MAN:
Your attention, please.

On my mark,
we will pick up the count.

NARRATOR:
More than 50,000 people

watched from nearby Cocoa Beach.

We reporters would watch
from the beaches then,

because they wouldn't let us in.

But we kept banging at the gates
and kicking at the fences.

They said, "They're more
of a nuisance outside

than they'll be on the inside,"
so they finally let us in.

It was just the greatest place
in the world.

NARRATOR: 100 million people
across America

watched the countdown
live on television.

MAN:
T-Minus 15 minutes. Mark.

GLENN: When it came time to go,
the whole world was with me.

MAN: All recorders to fast
T-Minus 18 seconds and counting.

I was the communicator
for the countdown.

I wanted to say something like,
"Bon voyage, buddy.

Have a good time."

And also enlist the aid
of our maker in protecting him.

GLENN: I was expecting
somebody to say "launch hold"

of some kind.

CARPENTER:
4. . . 3. . . 2. . . 1 . . . 0.

GLENN:
I couldn't believe it.

BARBREE: And the excitement of
John Glenn going into orbit --

This was the adventure
of the 20th century.

MAN: The moment when the final
Atlas engine will shut down,

when Friendship 7 should
separate from the booster rocket

and begin orbital flight.

GLENN: After all the dire
predictions of what might happen

and how you might feel in space
in zero G,

and there wasn't
any problem at all.

Of course,
in the Mercury spacecraft,

there wasn't anyplace
to float to.

You were just in there. You're
in a cockpit and strapped in.

The most you could do
would be loosen the straps

to be a little more comfortable.

But it was an elated feeling
of zero G

and seeing how things work

and seeing
whether you could swallow.

Nothing prepares you for
the view as you look outside.

You can see the curvature
of the Earth's surface

and whole nations
just at a glance.

NARRATOR:
As Glenn orbits the Earth,

Mission Control follows him

from one tracking station
to the next.

LUNNEY: I was at
a tracking station in Bermuda,

and the tracking from the Cape

was beginning to get
very marginal

as the vehicle sunk down,
going over the horizon.

And the tracking from Bermuda
was becoming

an increasingly better location

to measure the fact
that we were in orbit.

It was fun. It was demanding,
but it was fun.

We really enjoyed ourselves.

KRAFT:
Everything was going so well

that it was beyond belief
that it could go that easily.

NARRATOR: But as Glenn completes
his first orbit,

Mission Control confronts
its first crisis in space.

The telemetry people
noticed a signal

which was indicating that
the heat shield had come loose.

It was very scary to me.

If indeed
the heat shield was loose,

during reentry, the spacecraft
would probably get very hot --

temperatures of 3,000 degrees.

The heat might burn off
the heat shield,

and it would have killed him.

We ran a few tests to see if
what we were seeing was correct.

We began to ask him questions.

GLENN: Do I feel any bumping
or something like that?

So it's quite obvious
they weren't telling me

exactly what they were thinking
on the ground.

NARRATOR:
If the problem is real,

the straps for the retro-rockets
are the only thing

holding the heat shield
in place.

CARPENTER:
John didn't like not being told

what was wrong with the machine
that he was flying.

KRAFT:
The reason we didn't was because

there wasn't anything
he could do about it.

GLENN: I think the astronaut
needs to know

everything they know
on the ground.

If you lost communications,

the astronaut should have
all the information.

NARRATOR: The engineers
quietly hope the straps hold

until the capsule
hits denser air.

Then the force of descent should
keep the heat shield in place.

GLENN:
But when I first started reentry

and the retro-rockets fired,

the straps
that held that retropack

onto the basic spacecraft itself
burned off.

There were burning chunks
coming back by the window.

Sort of a thump
on the spacecraft.

NARRATOR:
During reentry,

ionized plasma builds up
around the spacecraft,

causing a radio blackout
for about three minutes.

The world waits to hear
if John Glenn is dead or alive.

The heat shield was not loose.

It was a microswitch
malfunction.

NARRATOR:
With Glenn's orbital flight,

the U.S. finally catches up
to the Soviet Union.

John Glenn instantly becomes one
of America's greatest heroes.

GLENN:
We had been concentrated so much

on this mission for so long,

just didn't think much
about anything else.

And then to have it over
was really a big relief.

[ Cheers and Applause ]

CARPENTER: After John's flight,
we were all proud.

I was proud of him.

We were all proud of
the United States for doing it.

[ Cheers and Applause ]

KRAFT:
It was proof positive

that this country could compete
in the world of space flight

and that the Russians, indeed,
were not ahead of us.

PRESIDENT KENNEDY:
Some months ago, I said

that I hoped that every American
would serve his country.

Today Colonel Glenn served his,

and we all express our thanks
to him.

We have a long way to go
in the space race,

but this is the new ocean,

and I believe the United States
must sail on it

and be in a position
second to none.

NARRATOR: The U.S. is on track
to fulfill Kennedy's dream,

yet orbital flight
is just one small step.

Now NASA must begin to explore
the hostile territory of space.

GLENN:
The reason you're going up there

is not just to see
if you can do it.

It's to do basic research.

NARRATOR:
In his capsule, Aurora 7,

Scott Carpenter will fly next.

CARPENTER: John's flight was
an experimental test flight.

Mine was to be more
of a scientific investigation.

There were
visibility experiments.

There were capsule-maneuvering
tasks that were new.

It was a very busy flight plan.

MAN:
Your attention, please.

all personnel,

please clear the test-stand area
to the roadblock.

NARRATOR: Aurora 7 blasts off
for three orbits of the Earth --

nearly five hours in space.

MAN:
5. . . 4. . . 3. . . 2. . . 1 . . . 0.

Ignition.

Scott Carpenter --
I call him a romanticist.

He was interested
in the beauty of space --

the sunrise and the sunset.

MAN: Roger.

CARPENTER: I remember
just spinning a camera a little

and letting it go
and watch it stay right there.

That's an amazing sight --
the view and the weightlessness.

Things do look different.

The stars don't twinkle anymore.

There's no atmosphere.

It's an addictive sight.

He was distracted many times
during the flight.

NARRATOR:
For the first time,

conflicts arise between the
astronaut and Mission Control.

He kept using the fuel
in a cavalier fashion.

He was maneuvering the
spacecraft to look here, there,

and everywhere at sights
that he wanted to see.

Frankly, I can understand that.

There was a requirement
for me to expend more fuel

because of the observations
I wanted to make.

KRAFT: During the first
revolution, he used up the fuel

in the automatic control system
almost completely.

We told him
to stop using that system.

He got to the manual system

and used up all but about
10% or 20% of the manual fuel.

NARRATOR: Scott Carpenter
is running out of gas.

KRAFT:
When he came up on retrofire,

the fuel had been
almost entirely depleted.

CARPENTER:
I didn't have any fuel.

The thrusters were not working.

NARRATOR: For reentry,
Carpenter has to manually

turn the capsule 180 degrees
so the heat shield faces down.

But he has another problem.

An automatic attitude sensor,
used to align the capsule,

is off by nearly 40 degrees. . .

and only Carpenter knows it.

He did not tell us that,

and we had no way of knowing
on the ground

there was this bias there.

NARRATOR: Now he's got to fire
the retro-rockets manually.

CARPENTER: Roger.

NARRATOR: With a faulty sensor,
Carpenter's already off-target.

If he's not
positioned perfectly,

the heat shield down,
the capsule will burn up.

CARPENTER: You subject
the capsule to heating,

and that could be
catastrophic -- fatal.

MAN:
4. . . 3. . . 2. . . 1 . . . 0.

NARRATOR: Mission Control
loses contact with Carpenter

during the radio blackout.

Three minutes later, nothing.

MAN: Aurora 7, Aurora 7,
Cape Cap Com, over.

Aurora 7, Aurora 7,
Cape Cap Com, over.

NARRATOR:
After 40 minutes,

still not a word
from Scott Carpenter.

The press is already speculating

that NASA has lost
its first astronaut.

MAN: Aurora 7, Aurora 7,
Cape Cap Com, over.

Aurora 7, Aurora 7,
Cape Cap Com, over.

NARRATOR: Finally,
reconnaissance flights

locate Carpenter
250 miles off-target.

CARPENTER: Nobody knew
where I was after my flight,

but I knew exactly where I was.

NARRATOR: Carpenter floats
in the Atlantic for three hours.

CARPENTER: Nothing worked
exactly the way it should have,

but we brought back some
interesting, new information

in space flight.

NARRATOR:
Scott Carpenter achieves

all his mission objectives,

yet flight controllers think
many of the problems he faced

could have been avoided.

Five months later,
Wally Schirra flies six orbits.

Then Gordo Cooper
circles the Earth 22 times

over a day and a half.

Cooper becomes the first
American to sleep in space

and the last to orbit solo
around the Earth.

As Project Mercury
comes to an end,

Project Gemini is already
preparing to blast off again

with a bold, new goal for
America's exploration of space.

[ Crowd cheering ]

PRESIDENT KENNEDY:
We choose to go to the moon !

We choose to go to the moon
in this decade

and do the other things,
not because they are easy

but because they are hard.

The Mercury program
was the most challenging

of all the work
that we've ever done in space.

To a great extent,
the Mercury astronauts

were literally flying
by the seat of their pants.

There's nothing I think
could prepare us

for that kind of an experience.

I've been very fortunate.

We were all for one,
and one for all.

NARRATOR:
The Mercury astronauts

took the first heroic steps
into a new frontier.

At the dawn of the space age,

Project Mercury
lays the foundation

for the great adventure to come.