海角大神

John Glenn聽fever gripped Cape Canaveral on Friday, just as it did half a century ago when America was on the verge of launching its first man into聽orbit.

Hundreds of NASA workers jammed a space center auditorium, three days before the 50th anniversary of Glenn's historic flight, to see and hear the first American to circle the Earth. Then journalists got a crack at Glenn, ever patient at describing his momentous flight aboard Friendship 7 and the decades聽since.

The 90-year-old Glenn was joined at both events by聽Scott Carpenter, 86, the only other survivor of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, as the weekend of anniversary festivities聽began.

Milestones in U.S. manned spaceflight

Glenn said he recollects the flight so often it seems like it took place just a couple weeks ago. He and Carpenter visited their old launch pad, Complex 14; it was from the blockhouse there that Carpenter called out "Godspeed John Glenn" before the rocket聽ignited.

The national attention then was "almost unbelievable," Glenn said, adding that he and his colleagues learned to live with the acclaim "or tried to聽anyway."

The early 1960s were a magical time in Cape Canaveral and adjoining Cocoa Beach, Carpenter said. "Everyone was behind us. The whole nation was behind what we were doing," he聽said.

Glenn's Friendship 7 capsule circled Earth three times on Feb. 20, 1962. Carpenter followed aboard Aurora 7 on May 24,听1962.

They were the third and fourth Americans to rocket into space.聽Alan Shepard听补苍诲听Gus Grissom聽flew short suborbital missions in 1961, the same year the Soviet Union launched two cosmonauts into orbit on separate聽shots.

The Cold War was raging, and America was desperate to even the score. Glenn could have died trying if the heat shield on his capsule was loose as flight controllers feared. But the protective shield was tight, and Glenn splashed down聽safely.

Glenn, a US senator for Ohio for 24 years, returned to orbit aboard shuttle Discovery in 1998, becoming the world's oldest spaceman at age 77 and cementing his super-galactic聽status.

"Flying in space at age 77, you've given me hope. I've got a few good years left, and I'm ready,"聽Kennedy Space Center聽director聽Robert Cabana, a former shuttle commander, told Glenn.

Another retired shuttle commander, NASA Administrator聽Charles Bolden聽Jr., shared how the Mercury astronauts "really lit up the world for me in terms of probability or possibility of things that we could聽do."

Glenn recalled how the Mercury astronauts traveled during their training to Cape Canaveral to watch a missile blast off. It was a night launch, and the rocket blew apart over their聽heads.

"That wasn't a very good confidence-builder for our first trip to the cape," Glenn said.

Improvements were made, and Glenn said he gained confidence in his Mercury-Atlas rocket, a converted nuclear missile. Otherwise, he said he would not have climbed聽aboard.

Glenn and his wife Annie were on hand Thursday evening for the attempted liftoff of the newest of the Atlas rockets, an unmanned booster that NASA contractors hope one day will carry astronauts. Windy weather forced a scrub of the Navy satellite聽launch.

"Scrub! Welcome to the space program," Glenn said at the news conference held in the old Mercury Mission Control, now located at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. "Not anything brand new to me." Lousy weather spoiled Friday night's launch attempt as聽well.

It took 11 tries for Glenn to get off the pad in 1962. He boarded three times before finally taking off, which he believes created even more of a public frenzy over his聽flight.

On Saturday, Glenn and Carpenter will reunite with more than 100 retirees who worked on Project Mercury. And on Monday, the actual anniversary, Glenn will be feted at Ohio State University; its school of public affairs bears his聽name.

Glenn said he's uncertain how he'll mark the exact time of liftoff 鈥� 9:47 a.m. 鈥� come Monday. He admitted sometimes forgetting to mark the precise moment in the past. But not for this golden one, "for聽sure."

Besides reminiscing Friday, Glenn and Carpenter spoke of the future of space travel. When asked by Cabana "given where we've come, where are we going," Carpenter had a one-word response. "Mars." The crowd聽applauded.

Glenn had more to offer, stressing the importance of exploration as well as scientific research. He criticized the previous administration for promoting lunar bases and Mars travel, but providing no funds, and for canceling the space shuttle program. "A big mistake," he聽said.

Glenn noted how NASA is relying on the Russians to transport American astronauts to and from the聽International Space Station, now that the shuttles are retired. That will continue until private U.S. companies have spacecraft ready to fly crews, an estimated five years聽away.

"What a big change that is from the days when there were the depths of the Cold War 鈥� fueling a lot of the interest in the space program," he聽said.

Carpenter said he deplores the fact that America seems to have lost its resolve to press ahead in space exploration, as evidenced by NASA's small share of the federal聽budget.

"I really miss my citizenship that was once in a can-do nation," he聽said.

Another change in five decades: Glenn pointed out how cellphones have "more computing capacity than anything back at the time when we were flying in '62." Society has become so accustomed to new things, he said, that it will be difficult for NASA to generate the kind of excitement that Project Mercury or Apollo's moonwalks聽did.

Repeatedly Friday, Glenn and Carpenter paid tribute to their five deceased Mercury colleagues: Shepard, Grissom, Wally Schirra,听Gordon Cooper听补苍诲听Deke Slayton.

"We need five more chairs here," Glenn told the NASA聽crowd.

The two pioneers received standing聽ovations.

Milestones in U.S. manned spaceflight