page 202, Grissom’s response . . . made a few of the others cringe: Ibid.
page 202, “the seven-sided coin of competition”: Swenson et al., This New Ocean.
page 203, his loquaciousness had cost him points: Glenn, A Memoir, p. 197.
page 203, Who is this Boy Scout?: Cooper, Leap of Faith, p. 18.
page 203, “There’s nothing on your tie, Slayton”: Barbree et al., Moonshot, p. 64.
page 203, “square-jawed trim halfbacks”: John W. Finney, “7 Named as Pilots for Space Flights,” The New York Times (April 10, 1959).
page 203, “virile”: Norman Mailer, Of a Fire on the Moon (Boston: Little, Brown and Co., 1969); Faludi, Stiffed, p. 455.
page 203, “daring and courageous”: We Seven, p. 4.
page 203, these were “military pilots”: The New York Times (April 10, 1959).
page 203, “Not one of us knew what he was in for”: Glenn, A Memoir, pp. 198–201.
page 204, “unsophisticated in many ways”: Schirra, Schirra’s Space, p. 63.
page 204, “Mrs. Shepard? . . . We’re from Life magazine”: Barbree et al., Moonshot, p. 67.
page 204, orders to track down each of the astronauts’ families: Schefter, The Race, p. 60.
page 205, “Mom, what is all this?”: Barbree et al., Moonshot, p. 68.
page 205, “our relationship”: Author interview with John Glenn.
page 206, According to an internal NASA memo . . . : Robert Sherrod, unpublished manuscript, NASA archives.
page 206, “nibbled to death by ducks”: Glenn, A Memoir, p. 200.
page 206, the whole table busted out laughing: Author interview with John Glenn; Glenn, A Memoir, p. 201.
page 207, “a tremendous guy . . . a very close personal friend”: Alan Shepard, interview transcript (James Burke, BBC TV, 1979).
page 207, “the ‘happily married’ illusion”: Cooper, Leap of Faith; Author interview with Gordon Cooper.
page 208, Life . . . “NASA’s house organ”: Faludi, Stiffed, p. 455.
page 208, “They were heroes not, like Charles Lindbergh . . .”: Ibid, p. 454.
page 208, “I rather enjoyed the insulation”: Shepard, interview with Burke.
page 208, “We made them heroes, the first day they were picked”: Matt Schudel, “Rocket Town,” Sunshine magazine (October 18, 1998).
page 209, “a way of putting words in our mouths”: Author interview with John Glenn.
10: Eyeballs in, eyeballs out
page 211, “he wouldn’t even have a window”: Chris Kraft, Flight: My Life in Mission Control (New York: E. P. Dutton, 2001), p. 64.
page 212, “the most complex of the original astronauts”: Cooper, Leap of Faith, p. 21.
page 212, Shepard was so “anxious to win”: We Seven, p. 11.
page 212, “serious clown”: Platt, Florida Today.
page 212, “a great test pilot”: Ibid.
page 213, Shepard thought less of Cooper and Carpenter: Ibid.
page 213, “we are seven different individuals”: We Seven, p. 9.
page 213, “comments . . . revealed a sharp, analytical mind”: Glenn, A Memoir,p. 194.
page 213, “it gave me the right image as a Navy test pilot”: David W. Temple, “The Car with the Right Stuff,” Car Collector (August, 2001).
page 213, “it was cheap and got good gas mileage”: Glenn, A Memoir, p. 202.
page 214, “Al was more of an enigma”: Ibid., p. 204.
page 214, “objects of an insatiable curiosity”: Ibid., p. 198.
page 215, “Nothing gave me more pleasure”: Ibid.
page 215, “It would be good if you kept him alive”: Kraft, Flight, pp. 65–68.
page 217, “glad they got that one out of the way”: Glenn, A Memoir, p. 207.
page 217, “I sure hope they fix that”: Guenter Wendt, with Russell Still, The Unbroken Chain (Ontario: Apogee Books, 2001), p. 14.
page 217, “Some of this was fairly exotic stuff”: We Seven, p. 203.
page 218, “Communism was on the march”: Author interview with John Glenn.
page 219, During a trip to Dallas: Author interview with Larry Richardson.
page 219, “Jockeying for position became a constant activity”: Walter Cunningham, The All-American Boys (New York: Macmillan Publishing Co., 1977), p. 82.
page 219, “It was a competition guaranteed to bring out the worst”: Ibid.
page 220, “There was always another what-if”: Author interview with John Glenn.
page 222, A few of the doctors . . . were surprised: Author interview with Robert Voas.
page 222, the first of the seven to tame the MASTIF: Swenson et al., This New Ocean.
page 223, “a bulldog tearing away at you”: Mickey Kapp (producer), To the Moon, 6-CD audio book.
page 224, the record . . . was an astonishing 20 Gs: Glenn, A Memoir, p. 209.
page 224, “County Fair Killer”: Barbree et al., Moonshot, p. 73.
page 224, “oversize cream separator”: Press conference (December 15, 1959).
page 224, “It’s something I never want to do again”: Ibid.
page 224, “sadistic”: Ibid.
page 226, “unthinkable”: Ibid.
page 226, “inundated with the newness of everything”: Kraft, Flight, p. 116.
page 227, Shepard and the others assembled at the Cape: Ibid.
page 228, “That was a hell of a mess”: Barbree et al., Moonshot, p. 72.
page 228, Cooper’s accountant told him he could pick any state: Cooper, Leap of Faith.
page 229, “We were always looking for ways to let off steam”: Slayton and Cassut, DEKE!, p. 88.
page 229, “went berserk”: Schirra, Schirra’s Space, p. 65.
page 229, a “whippersnapper” whom none of them “respected”: Shorty Powers, oral history, NASA Historical Center.
page 229, “They were leery of me”: Ibid.
page 230, “A real pain in the ass”: Slayton and Cassut, DEKE! p. 80.
page 230, “they instinctively rebelled”: Powers, oral history.
page 231, “we would play games . . .”: Ibid.
page 231, “Daddy is going to Reno”: Ibid.
page 231, “That’s a lot of horseshit”: Author interview with Ralph Morse.
page 232, “cover space”: Ibid.
page 233, “How ’bout a cuppa coffee?” [entire scene]: Author interview with Morse.
page 234, “As debilitated as I have ever been”: Glenn, A Memoir, p. 225.
11: “A harlot of a town”
page 236, “Sometimes we like to have a little fun, too”: Fallaci, If the Sun Dies, p. 93.
page 238, “sweep the monkey shit off the seat”: Slayton and Cassut, DEKE!, p. 82.
page 239, “They ran out of monkeys”: Al Neuharth, “Soft Side of Shepard: ‘Ran Out of Monkeys,’ ” USA Today (July 24, 1998).
page 239, He strutted through the belching factory: NASA film footage, National Archives and Records Administration.
page 240, “You literally couldn’t shut him up”: Paul Haney, oral history interview, NASA Historical Center.
page 240, “He talked his head off”: Author interview with Paul Haney.
page 240, “after that, Al outdistanced John”: Haney, oral history.
page 241, “I’ve had about all the monkey shit talk I can stand”: Slayton and Cassut, DEKE!, p. 82.
page 241, Deke’s speech and “Spam” comments [entire scene]: Slayton and Cassut, DEKE!, p. 82; Swenson et al, This New Ocean; Kraft, Flight, pp. 91–94.
page 242, “this girl . . . came over to me . . .”: John Glenn, speaking at Deke Slayton’s memorial service (1994).
page 242, Sharing a room with Slayton . . . : Slayton and Cassut, DEKE!, p. 88; John Glenn’s speech at Deke Slayton’s memorial service.
page 242, He woke up early the next morning . . . : Kraft, Flight, pp. 91–94; Schefter, The Race, p. 88.
page 243, just 823 registered voters
: Henri Landwirth, Gift of Life (self-published, 1996), p. 96.
page 243, “A stringbean of a town”: Lew Scarr, “The Space Age Had a Bright Beginning,” The San Diego Union-Tribune (September 1, 1985), p. 1.
page 244, the fastest-growing county in the nation: Matt Schudel, “Rocket Town,” Sunshine magazine (October 18, 1998).
page 244, $143 worth per person: Martin Caidin, The Cape, p. 41.
page 244, America’s highest divorce rate: Schudel, Sunshine magazine.
page 244, “A harlot of a town”: Caidin, The Cape, p. 62.
page 244, “As sometimes happens in journalism . . .”: Author interview with Howard Benedict.
page 244, DRINK SCHLITZ: Scarr, The San Diego Union-Tribune.
page 245, “the greatest story in history, no question”: Schudel, Sunshine magazine.
page 245, “We couldn’t get near them”: Author interview with Howard Benedict.
page 245, “Maybe it gave me a little bit of an edge”: Author interview with Walter Cronkite.
page 246, “What kind of a trap is this?” [entire scene]: Ibid.
page 246, “really a male-dominated world”: Author interview with Dee O’Hara.
page 247, “they were good and they knew it”: Ibid.
page 247, “It was a game with him”: Ibid.
page 247, “You only got so close to Alan”: Ibid.
page 250, “You should be proud of that”: Landwirth, Gift of Life, p. 138.
page 250, “awed” by the astronauts: Author interview with Henri Landwirth.
page 250, “austere, nondescript and totally uncomfortable”: Barbree et al., Moonshot, p. 86.
page 250, “unpleasant walk”: Ibid.
page 251, The chimp . . . defecated onto his hands: Wendt, Still, The UnbrokenChain, p. 18.
page 251, The police found no evidence: Landwirth, Gift of Life, p. 118.
page 251, “Wherever the boys were . . .”: Author interview with Henri Landwirth.
page 252, “like a giant fraternity party”: Ibid.
page 252, “Any one of us . . . would not have to look very far”: Glenn, A Memoir, p. 220.
page 252, “like something happening in a movie”: Landwirth, Gift of Life, p. 113.
page 252, “a real friend to all of us”: Ibid., p. 106.
page 252, “the funniest thing I’d ever seen”: Ibid., p. 122.
page 253, dumped it in the pool: Ibid.
page 253, wives understood each other “as no one else could”: Smaus and Spangler, America’s First Spaceman, p. 137.
page 254, “They were beautiful people”: Caidin, The Cape, p. 90.
page 254, “rather than stand around”: Louise Shepard, “Just Go Right Ahead,” Life, Vol. 47, No. 12 (September 21, 1959), p. 150.
page 255, ended the night by drag-racing in the new Corvette: Bishop Schuyler, “Finding Out About the Right Stuff from America’s First Man in Space,” Sports Illustrated (October 8, 1984).
page 255, “his dick would have fallen off”: Author interview with Bill Dana.
page 256, “Shepard wanted his buddies to believe he was seeing Trish”: Author interview with Jay Barbree.
page 256, “that was one thing we didn’t discuss”: Author interview with Loraine Meyer.
12: “I think I got myself in trouble”
page 257, “Goes like a bat out of hell”: Author interview with Ralph Morse.
page 258, convinced a reluctant GM management to donate a brand-new Corvette: Temple, Car Collector.
page 259, “a bunch of Okies”: Slayton and Cassut, DEKE!, p. 75.
page 260, Shepard once spun out on a rain-slicked bridge: Author interview with James Lovell.
page 260, the car spun out and slid two hundred feet: Temple, Car Collector.
page 260, “concerned they’d kill themselves”: Author interview with Bill Hines.
page 260, “There’s something wrong with this car”: Barbree et al., Moonshot, p. 84.
page 260, Often he would get out and kick the car after losing: Author interview with John Fasolino.
page 260, “Gotcha,” Cooper said: Barbree et al., Moonshot, p. 84.
page 261, “John tries to behave as if . . .”: We Seven, p. 13.
page 261, “make me laugh”: Landwirth, Gift of Life, p. 120.
page 261, “I could have choked him”: Author interview with Henri Landwirth.
page 261, confessed that they were just messing with him: Landwirth, Gift of Life, p. 105.
page 261, “charm a whole room by himself”: Author interview with Henri Landwirth.
page 262, “I want to be first because I want to be first”: Caidin, Man into Space, p. 37.
page 264, “There is no doubt in my mind they will be first”: Allan C. Fisher Jr., “Exploring Tomorrow with the Space Agency,”: National Geographic (prepublication version of article, March 14, 1960).
page 264, “our objective in this program is not to beat the Russians”: Press conference, San Diego (September 25, 1959).
pages 264–265, “forced into a competitive race”: Fisher, National Geographic.
page 265, NASA officials . . . deleted that quote: Ibid.
page 267, “When we came out of the room . . .”: Author interview with Gordon Cooper.
page 267, “some of us were more team players than others”: Ibid.
page 267, “I think I got myself in trouble”: Author interview with Al Blackburn.
page 267, “compromising” photographs: Shorty Powers, oral history, NASA.
page 267, Shorty . . . called Glenn . . . “it’s happened”: Author interview with John Glenn.
page 268, “godless communists . . . get back in the space race”: Author interview with John Glenn; Glenn, A Memoir, p. 221.
page 268, “bland and upbeat”: Glenn, A Memoir, p. 230.
page 268, “keep his pants zipped”: Ibid.
page 268, Shepard became furious at . . . Glenn’s “moralizing”: Barbree et al., Moonshot, p. 78.
page 268, “Doesn’t everyone have the right to do what they want to do?”: Moonshot: The Inside Story of the Apollo Project (Turner Home Video, 1995).
page 269, “The camaraderie was incredible”: Cheney, OpenUniverse.com.
page 269, “My views were in the minority . . . I had made my point”: Glenn, A Memoir, p. 221; author interview with John Glenn.
page 269, “a popularity contest”: Glenn, A Memoir, p. 221.
13: “We had ’em by the short hairs, and we gave it away”
page 270, “If we wait any longer . . . ”: Barbree et al., Moonshot, pp. 77–81.
page 270, “the most difficult decision”: Ibid.
page 270, “Alan Shepard will make the first suborbital flight”: Ibid.
page 271, it was “not a moment to crow”: We Seven, p. 229.
page 271, “Thank you very much, and good luck”: Alan B. Shepard, oral history interview with Roy Neal (Johnson Space Center Oral History Project, February 20, 1998).
page 271, “Lady, you can’t tell anyone . . .”: Barbree et al., Moonshot, p. 81.
page 271, “Who let a Russian in here?”: Ibid.
pages 271–272, “really deflated . . . a very traumatic feeling . . . the second team”: Moonshot (Turner Home Video, 1995).
page 272, “For Al, it was the competition”: Cheney, OpenUniverse.com.
page 272, “John figured he had made all the right moves”: Slayton and Cassut, DEKE!, p. 93.
page 272, when Gilruth picked Shepard . . . : Slayton and Cassut, DEKE!, p. 93; Barbree et al., Moonshot, p. 78.
page 272, “Of course! Politics!” Slayton thought: Barbree et al., Moonshot, p. 79.
page 273, “Glenn loved an audience . . .”: Williams, Go.
page 273, “cozying up to top management”: Kraft, Flight, pp. 80–87.
page 273, “We wanted to put our best foot forward”: Williams, Go.
page 274, “it’s not that way with Shepard”: Loudon S. Wainwright, “Shepard:
A Cool Customer and a Hot Pilot with an Eye for the Big Picture,” Life (March 3, 1961), p. 30.
page 274, Shepard . . . “secrets”: Michael Collins, Carrying the Fire: An Astronaut’sJourney (New York: Cooper Square Press, 1974), p. 24.
page 274, “He was an egotist”: Author interview with Chris Kraft.
page 276, “It’s how we learn”: Kraft, Flight, p. 136; author interview with Chris Kraft.
page 277, “I might have been penalized . . .”: Glenn, A Memoir, p. 233.
page 277, “I didn’t think being an astronaut was a popularity contest”: Ibid.
page 277, “too lighthearted for the job”: Barbree et al., Moonshot, p. 81.
page 277, “trying to knife each other”: Caidin, Man into Space, p. 39.
page 277, “Those were rough days for me”: We Seven, p. 304.
page 277, A lingering remorse . . .: Fred Bruning, “Glenn’s Return to Space: A 2nd Launch into History,” Newsweek (October 11, 1998).
page 278, “If I may be hypothetical . . .”: Press conference, San Diego (September 25, 1959).
page 279, excessive “German thoroughness”: Swenson et al., This New Ocean.
page 279, “We’re ready to go. Let’s go”: Barbree et al., Moonshot, p. 91.
page 279, “the prestige of the United States”: Swenson et al., This New Ocean.
page 280, “chimp barbecue”: Glenn, A Memoir, p. 235.
page 282, “I’ve come from outer space”: Schefter, The Race, p. 135.
page 283, “We had them by the short hairs”: Barbree et al., Moonshot, p. 91.
page 283, “the grimmest I can remember in the White House”: Sherrod, unpublished manuscript, NASA archives.
page 284, “I don’t want to go . . . Please don’t send me”: Williams, Go.
page 285, “the logical man to go first”: Smaus and Spangler, America’s First Spaceman, p. 147.
page 285, “I needed it more than he did”: We Seven, p. 238.
page 286, “I don’t think two people could have worked more closely”: Author interview with John Glenn.
page 286, “Al’s alter ego, his virtual twin”: Glenn, A Memoir, p. 237.
14: “Light this candle!”
page 287, Douglas found a loose nail on the fourth toe: We Seven, p. 234.
page 288, “Hey, Gus . . .”: Ibid.
page 291, “I tried to pace myself . . .”: Ibid.
page 291, “Watch your language”: Moonshot, Turner Home Video.
Light This Candle: The Life & Times of Alan Shepard--America's First Spaceman Page 51
