Friendship 7
MA-6 “Friendship 7” – 20th February 1962
The Atlas launch vehicle carrying Friendship 7 launches toward orbit. |
The Mercury Space Tracking Network plotboard in Mercury Control shows the positions of each of the Network stations, as well as the groundtrack of Friendship 7’s three orbits. |
This view at Muchea shows the Acquisition area in the foreground, with the Control area in the far section of the room. In the distance at far right, Comm Tech Gerry O’Connor stands by ready to call Friendship 7 when it comes in range. Labelled photo. |
Mercury Control (the voice of Colonel John Shorty Powers) describes Friendship 7s position over the Indian Ocean ship. 168kb mp3 file. Runs for 43 seconds. |
A plot of Friendship 7’s trajectory is here draped over a globe to show the groundtrack of John Glenn’s three orbits. ‘IOS’ is the Indian Ocean Ship. The circles represent the nominal 700 nautical mile tracking range of each station. Graphic: Colin Mackellar. |
Hear the full pass over Muchea and Red Lake on Orbit 1 from Friendship 7s onboard flight recorder. 3.1MB mp3 file runs for a total of 13'39". |
48 minutes into his flight, Glenn is approaching the coast of Muchea, Western Australia where Capcom L. Gordon Cooper is waiting. 00'01" Mucheas Comm Tech, Gerry OConnor is just audible at the spacecraft as he calls to establish contact. 00'14" Not realising that Muchea is calling, Glenn transmits in the blind, and describes his night observations. |
Muchea Comm Tech Gerry O’Connor during the MA-6 flight. The Acquisition Team (Jack Duperouzel, Jack Walker and Jack Moir) are visible behind him. |
01'07" Friendship 7 has risen high enough above the horizon for Muchea to acquire the signal. Comm Tech Gerry OConnor makes another call, and this time John Glenn answers. Having established communications, O’Connor hands over to the Capcom. 01'18" Muchea Capcom, astronaut L. Gordon Cooper, replies. |
Muchea CapCom Astronaut Gordon Cooper speaks with John Glenn as he passes overhead. (From a NASA film of the event.) |
03'06" Cooper suggests Glenn look for the lights of Perth. He cant see them yet. 05'42" 54 minutes into his flight, John Glenn reports that he can see the lights (of Perth and Rockingham). The bright light to the south is almost certainly the Kwinana Oil Refinery just north of Rockingham. The refinery flared for Glenn’s pass. (Thanks to Leo Hanley’s son John for that info.)
Due to cloud, Glenn is unable to see any lights at Woomera. The Woomera pass runs until 13'34". The next tracking station, Canton Island in the Pacific Ocean, is still seven minutes away. |
A computer generated image of Friendship 7 made using Celestia and a digital model by James R. Bassett. |
Mercury Control (the voice of Colonel John Shorty Powers) announces that Friendship 7 is over Muchea and is speaking with Gordon Cooper. The voice communications are being recorded and soon will be replayed at Mercury Control. 168kb mp3 file. Runs for 42 seconds. |
Mercury Control announces that John Glenn has seen the lights of Perth. 172kb mp3 file. Runs for 43 seconds. |
Mercury Tracking Network Acquisition times for MA-6. Part 1. From the Manned Spacecraft Center publication “Results of the First United States Manned Orbital Space Flight, February 20, 1962”. Page 72. Larger, Largest. |
Mercury Tracking Network Acquisition times for MA-6. Part 2. (from page 73.) Larger, Largest. Interestingly, from the above chart, it seems favourable propagation allowed the Canton Island station to receive voice on HF when Friendship 7 was over the Atlantic Ocean. |
John Glenn is welcomed aboard aircraft carrier Randolph after being transferred from the recovery destroyer Noa. |
Colonel John Glenn. NASA photo scanned by John Lambie. |
For more, see
Americas Man in Orbit is a 20 page booklet on John Glenns
flight. Click on the image to download the 10MB PDF file. |
Gordon Cooper and Tom Risher at ARDU at Laverton, 1962. |
Gordon Cooper and Tom Risher at ARDU at Laverton, 1962. |
Unless otherwise stated, the photos are frames from a 1962 NASA documentary
Friendship 7, captured and enhanced by Colin Mackellar.
See also:
Audio of Friendship 7, as recorded at Red Lake / Woomera.
Hamish Lindsay’s Friendship 7 Essay.