On Febuary 20, 1962, most Americans were glued to their
television sets and the rest of the world to their radios to see and
listen to the flight of the first American to orbit earth. I was one among
many who had more important things to do at the far flung tracking stations
and ships around the globe. We were keeping tabs on astronaut John Glenn as
he orbited the earth and sending back vital and new information about space
flight in those early days. From outer space the world could hear, "This is
Friendship 7.....zero G and I feel fine.....oh, the view is tremendous."
I was located on Grand Turk Island, in the West Indies where the
U.S.A. had a Project Mercury tracking station and I was working at the
telemetry site operating electronics equipment. There was also a small but
well staffed Mercury hospital on the island as astronaut John Glenn would
be brought there after orbiting the earth and splashing down in nearby
waters.
Below is an account from a letter that I wrote to my father
five days after the launch of John Glenn that gives details of the
happenings on Grand Turk Island in that eventful week.
Tuesday, 20 Febuary 1962
Col. Glenn launched into orbit three times around the earth,
Grand Turk telemetry tracking him on every orbit. We could see his heart
beat on our equipment from the signals coming from outer space but
unfortunately we were not able to hear him talk as it would have
interfered with our own communications and operations. Later we listened
to news reports and taped broadcasts on the Voice of American radio station
so we didn't miss too much. Col. Glenn arrived at Grand Turk Island about
9:30 p.m. but I wasn't down at the air strip to greet him; I was asleep in
bed, as I had put in a very long day. We had arrived at the telemetry site
many hours ahead of the scheduled launch to calibrate our equipment as well
as participate in the flight readiness checkout of the whole Project
Mercury tracking stystem around the world.
Wednesday, 21 February 1962
The aircraft carrier USS Randolph and two other smaller
Navy ships were close by Grand Turk Island in the morning and the space
capsule was off loaded and brought ashore. It was taken to the airstrip
and loaded aboard a MATS (Military Air Transport System) aircraft to be
shipped to Patrick Air Force Base, Florida. Later on in the day three more
astronauts flew in here; they were Shepard, Grissom and Schirra. As they
came in and were walking to the mess hall for chow, I was able to get
their pictures. I also took pictures of the space capsule loading operation
at the dock and also at the airstrip. Col. Glenn stayed in the Mercury
hospital while the other three astronauts bunked in the barracks that I
live in; their quarters are about four doors down the hallway.
Did you read about the astronauts saving a skin diver here? The
skin diver is a buddy of mine and works out at Telemetry. Later on in the
evening there was a party down at the Conch Club for Col. Glenn and
everyone was invited. The astronauts showed up and were swamped by
autograph seekers. I got my share of autographs too.
Thursday, 22 February 1962
There were various press conferences outside of the Mercury
hospital throughout the day and newspaper people were here from all over
the U.S. I attended a few of the press conferences to learn what is going
on; that was the only way I could learn anything. I did work half a day
though, but when I wasn't working I stayed around the Mercury hospital and
my persistence paid off as I got more pictures of two additional astronauts
who had arrived.
Later on, all of the astronauts, except Cooper, came out and
posed for the photographers and TV men. I was right there with them
snapping away and hope I have some good photographs. Astronaut Cooper who
was at the Australian tracking station for the Mercury flight was still
in flight, on the way back to the U.S. so I didn't get to meet him. Most of
the day the astronauts stayed in the Mercury hospital for the debriefing of
Col. Glenn and for the final phase of his physical checkup.
Friday, 23 February 1962
Vice President Johnson arrived approximately 4:30 a.m., about
an hour earlier than expected, in a Jet Star, a ten-passenger type
aircraft. He had breakfast at the mess hall with all the VIPs and the
astronauts. A co-worker came and awoke me telling me that the Vice
President was on the base, but we arrived at the mess hall a bit late to
get any inside photographs. When all the VIPs came outside I was on hand
for a photograph session. The Vice President and Col. Glenn were very
friendly and posed for all of us. Johnson surprised us all by saying
"you've been taking my picture all morning, why don't you men get around
me and we'll have a picture taken together."
(Click on above image for an expanded view)
So we did with Col. Glenn and a few secret service men too. I am the one kneeling. Mostly we were all base employees and amateur photographers as the professional photographers had already caught a plane to Patrick Air Force Base so as to be there when the Vice
President and Col. Glenn arrived.
While the VIPs took a tour of the Mercury hospital we all went
to the airport to await their arrival. At the airport waiting area there
was a large crowd of local townspeople; I would say about 200 natives
and a few british dignitaries. When the Vice President arrived with Col.
Glenn and the other VIPs, there was much handshaking and Vice President
Johnson stole the show from Astronaut Glenn since he was a well known and
experienced hand shaker. The crowd closed in on him wanting to shake his
hand. But Col. Glenn was still the hero as the crowd cheered together and
hip hip hurrah'ed him. Then all the VIPs got aboard the Jet Star
and flew off to the U.S.A. Peace and quiet now prevails at Grand Turk
Island once again. Now when Grand Turk is mentioned to someone in the
states it will be recognized along with Astronaut Glenn.
************************
I was able to obtain the group photograph taken of us with
Vice President and Col. Glenn (shown above) and it is one of my prized possessions. I was disappointed to find out later, in reading local Florida newspapers, that Grand Turk Island was only mentioned briefly as a return point for the big news of Astronaut John Glenn's historic space flight. So the one
big chance that this little island had to be spotlighted in a major news
event was passed by.
There is a philatelic side to this story also. To commemorate
John Glenn's splashdown and arrival at Grand Turk Island, another friend
and I had made arrangements to have 40 to 50 covers cancelled at the
Grand Turk Post Office if the flight was a success. These were later
locally printed with a black word cachet headline reading "Space Man
comes to Grand Turk Island Feb. 20, 1962," with a smaller word text
reading "America's first orbital Astronaut John H. Glenn Jnr. arrived
today after orbiting the earth 3 times and landing near Grand Turk
Island." Since I knew that a U.S.A. Project Mercury stamp had also been
issued, I left a space in the center of the cachet where one of these
stamps could be placed. An equal number of U.S.A. Project Mercury first
day covers were cacheted with the same cachet as on the Grand Turk Island
covers. The covers were equally divided between my friend and me with a
few given to the servicer and the printer.
Cover autographed by John Glenn, Jr. after his flight
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While the cachets on these covers do not state it, these are
Grand Turk Island tracking station covers as well and it was the second
tracking station cover which I prepared.
Scott#246, 247 and 248
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For the tenth anniversary of the Mercury Glenn orbital flight,
the Turks and Caicos Islands (Where Grand Turk Island is located) issued
a set of four stamps (Scott 246-249) to commemorate this historic
event. The 5 cent stamp shows a view of Cape Canaveral Florida, as Glenn's
rocket leaves the launch pad. The 10 cent stamp shows Glenn's
Friendship 7 space capsule in orbit. The 15 cent stamp shows a map of
the Turks and Caicos Islands and Glenn's capsule splashdown. The 20 cent
stamp shows the NASA Distinguished Service Medal presented to Col. John
Glenn. These stamps were issued on February 21, 1972 (since Febuary 20 was
a Sunday).
Scott #249
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