STAMP me ric a m ad e h istor - to a . Y ou've h ear d that ~ - o ver an o ver ~ B ut I' m re f errin g t o somet h ing ou may h ave misse d - in t h e hu rl y -burl y surroun d in g John Glenn's orbit a l f li gh t. T h e moment our astron a tw as recovered from the Atlantic - th e ost office too k t h e w r aps of f a dramatic secret. P utti ng on sale a special stamp - commemorating the flight. Blocks of the stamps went out to local post offices - weeks ago. The order• "ket,p them confidential. J Until t h e mission ls completed. A nd not a word leaked out - durin g all the postponements. Today, success. The stamps - brought out of hiding - and pt on sale. Each one, showing - a capsule ,'('2... fl y ing t h rou gh spa ce. In the left hand corner, a globe - A cross inscri b e d wit h t h e phrase ' U.S. man in s pace." •••••~ the bottom - t h e wor d s "project merc u r y ." - ST P - 2 What ' s so h istoric - ab o t i t ? This i s t h e first time in histor t l at a commemor ative stamp has ever been iss u e - s imult neously with the event it commemorates. ASTIOMAUT ------- The flight of A stronaut John Glenn - did you watch his blast off t h is morning? ~id you follow anything else? Most Aaeri cans were glued to a TV or radio. lnclading President Iennedy at the White liouae. The first American astronaut to rocket around the earth. John G lenn the coolest man at Cape Canaveral - •• the count down proceeded. The other• at Cape Canaveral, and the rest ot ua following it, tense with exciteaent. Especially the cliaatic moment, when the count-aown reached ten - and then ticked off to 1ero, when the officer n charge - pressed the launch button and John Glenn at last was on his way - to outer apace. To a peraanent niche - in the annals of science. And - in the h istory of Aaerica. The Mercury rocket agines, thundering into action - a thrust of three hundred and sixty thousand pounds. The familiar cloud of white saoke an d or a n g e fla ■e - erupting. fhe rocket, rising slowly from its launching pad - gleaming in the sunlight of the Cape, gathering speed - zooming up into its flight arc; thundering faster and faster - for the brief time that it remained visible. The, it was - gone. ~nto Orbit? the world wondered. There was only one man - who could tell ua exactly what was hap~•ning. Back fro ■ the space cap1ule ca■• the voice of John Glenn - strong, clear, confident. ••~orting - everything A-okay. The Mercury rocket - perferming perfectly. FLIGHT F OLLOW S TRON UT T h i rteen m i n utes l a t e r - ~ t i nt o orbit. ·m on is ir t w o r s - t h e v i e i s tr e e n d o us , ea u ti fu l. " T h e w h ole p a n o rama o o u r p la ne t - sp re a o ut ene a t h im, ~ a s h e we n t a ro n t h r e e time~ , 't spee of a lmost ei gh teen t h ousan m iles an h our, eac h orbit - in ab out ei gh ty - e t t m inu t es. Over u st r lia, G lenn J• pic k e d o ut - t h e li gh ts of Pert h . It b ei ni h t - Dow n Un er. To th e A ussies, he ra d ioe d - 'th a n k everybo d for turnin t h em on." D uring his s e con d or i L , e notice t ous and s of 1 i n o u s pa rticles o u t s i d e h is c ap sule. Te e p a rticle - o ne of t h em steries of t h e fli gh t. Glenn ask e to be permitt e - t h ir d orbit. n d - no on e at y a pe na v eral w a s a b o u t t o r ef us e.Te ,er e el at e , s t e i r a stro na u t w e t ar o u n f o r t h e l a t time. ~ e t e e s cen t - a er , 11 t o f o r-- ' o u r s - a ~ 1 f t - s i x m.tJulas mi utes. Jo h n Glenn, fis h e f r o m th n tic - ' N " T k b t h e destro 1 er o a . a en a o r t . e c a rri e r FLIGHT FO LL O ' 1 TRONAUT - 2 'Randolph 1 - wit ever t h i r i n ic at in tat he came bac 1 "I i n n s " pe. st r ona u t term 1 olo E; - -o a ' 11 REACTION The reaction to John Glenn's historic flight into space - 1s symbolized by President Kennedy. The President, making a special statement - at the White House. His theme - ' the new ocean". Meaning - the ocean of space. President Kennedy, thanking John Glenn - fol' becoming the first Amarican to voyage out onto that ocean. Astronaut Glenn heralding - American pre-eminence 1n space exploration. And the President added - that the men behind our space program handled this flight in precisely the right way. The rest of the country - agreeing with the President. One of the common reactions - concerns all the publicity surrounding the flight. The fact that we made public - the ten postponements. Our policy, now considered - vindicated. ~ Speaker McCormack of the House, backing up President Kennedy with the words - "our preference for franknea has paid off. 11 Then the speaker added "no one can doubt that John Glenn made the flight." This, a reference to Soviet •••••~ secrecy - which has caused much skepticism about RE CTION - 2 ~ whether the Russian cosmonauts really did orbit the earth. But most A mericans aren't wor~ying about - comparisons. Theytf-e simply overjoyed•- - - - - ~ i . a . . From the rest or the fl'fle world - the same k~ of Jubilation. Said astronomer Sir•Bernard Lovell of Jodrell Bank Observatory 1n Englarttl - 11 a wonderful scientific achievement ' . An official of the French government commented: "a triumph of the human spirit.'' West Germa:ns are shouting, 11 Wunderbar ! " Italians - 11 Bravo! Bravo! 11 a the Russians ar~ sending their feliti1e.t1ons. They allowed the news of the flight to be heard in Russia - witho u t Jamming. today's session - A group of ua, includiq lilliaa Laurence, acienoe editor of the iew rork Ti•••• were together for an hour or 10 while Glenn was in orbit. Laurence aade so ■• coaaents that 1 unexpectedly found rather useful so ■• ainute ■ later when l ju■ped into a cab. The taxi dri•er, lit• e••ryone •l•• in Mew York wanted to talk about the apace flight. Turning to•• he aaked a question . tba t J. ■ up_po ■ e ••• aaked, hundr•dil perhapa hundred• of thouaand• of ti ■••• today. lhat good will co■• fro ■ thi ■ ? What poasible benefit to ua, to an7one? Aa an answer to that, 1ci1noe editor Bill Laurence had ju■ t told us the following 1tory. ~e re■ inded u 1 that back in 1831, Michael rarraday, in England, uahered in th• age of electriolt.,, with hia in•ention of the aagnetic induction coil. ' ! ' he rriae Minister of that day visited Faraday in his laboratorJ and said: •what good is it?' Faraday shrugged hia ahoaldera and replied: •that good ia • baby?• •nd then answered by aayin1, •aaybe aoae day ••'11 tax it!• To which tbelew York Ti■•• ato■ ic expert added: •And how we have taxed electricit7 aince then?• FaradaJ ushered in one era, th••• a p ace tli1bta are uahtring in another. A1 President lennedy put it, thia ia then•• ocean, and•• auat sail on it and be in a ?Oaition second to none. What next? iditor Laurence points out that Ge■ ini will be co ■ inc up aoon, Ge ■ ini ■taninc twina. Thia will be when two astronaut• are sent up together. Then, Project Bendezvoua, when saall lo a ds will be sent rocketing into apace. Soaehow these load• •ill be brought together, in apace, to tor ■ a real space ship large enough to rovide us with observatories in space, observatories froa which it will be p ossible to take a real look at the universe as we have, not yet seen what is around us. tie l ik~ned u1 to fiah that only liTe at the bottoa of the sea. That if fiah on the ocean floor were able to think they natura l ly would wonder, what it 1 a like on top? Tb• inhabitant• of thi1 planet are at the botto ■ of a•••• the earth's at ■ oaphere, a••• approxi ■ ately oo• hundred ail•• deep. ~ow,•• will be able actuallJ to••• the atara. He then pr,phe1ied that b7 1967 •• will be landing a aan on the ■oon. ~eaarked B ob Conaidin• - the Hearat coluaniat: ••• don't know whether the ■oon i• good or bad, or ch••••·• Before long ••'11 know. What will that aean to ■ ankind? No one can answer. jut, we hope, ~ ick, it will aean that all-out war will become im p ossible• unthinkable.