Glenn Flight Evokes Pride, Nostalgia at Rocketdyne

Things looked a little different the first time John Glenn soared into orbit.

Thirty-six years ago, Rocketdyne engineers huddled in cafeterias and auditoriums to peer at black-and-white TVs. Astronaut Glenn was a spry redhead.

Young and serious in a dark suit, mechanical engineer Vince Wheelock had said a silent prayer, hoping he and his crew hadn’t made any mistakes in assembling the Atlas engines that would power Glenn’s historic orbit around the earth.

Gathered around a sleek conference table Thursday with Rocketdyne scientists past and present, Wheelock, his face now etched with age, could breathe a little easier. This time the technology wasn’t so risky, and Wheelock was confident the engines would work.

Thursday morning was a reprise for both Glenn, the 77-year-old-spaceman-cum-U.S. senator, and 66-year-old Wheelock, who worked on the rocket engines that propelled Glenn’s two flights.

The engines for both flights were built at Rocketdyne’s Canoga Park facility and assembled and tested at the 2,700-acre Santa Susana Field Laboratory near Simi Valley. After 1987, space shuttle engine testing was relocated to Mississippi.

“I relate to sitting in the seat he’s sitting in now,” said Wheelock, who often clambered inside the space shuttle to check engine installation. “I know what it feels like to be in his shoes.”

An impish gleam in his eyes, he added, “If they would let me go up, I would go too.”

At Rocketdyne’s facilities in Simi Valley and the San Fernando Valley, Glenn’s historic flight Thursday evoked nostalgia, delight--and pride of workmanship.

The loudest cheers from the assembled scientists did not occur at liftoff, but 8 1/2 minutes later, when the main engines cut off.

The moments before were all but silent.

Even though as a clerical assistant she is involved at the ground level of the Space Shuttle Main Engine Project, Rocketdyne employee Doris I. Murray was a nervous wreck before Thursday’s liftoff. She sat with her fingers crossed, tears running down her face. “This is just so emotional,” she said. “We’ve gotta get this thing up.”

Her boss, Lorin Blewett, deputy project manager for the Space Shuttle Main Engine Project, watched nearby, only exhaling when he saw the telltale “mock diamonds,” streaks of white powder that emerge from the three engines’ sea of hydrogen red.

That moment past, he allowed himself to enjoy the fruits of his team’s labor. And to savor the space industry’s moment back in the public spotlight.

“A lot of us were remarking that this seems like the old days, back when we had the moon race going and we had a lot of interest,” Blewett said. “After the first few shuttle flights, interest tapered off. It’s great to have the public’s attention again.”

Rocketdyne retiree Alan Pietrowski said Thursday’s flight didn’t quite live up to the exhilaration of 1962, when he helped negotiate contracts for the Atlas engines that thrust Glenn into space. But it was nonetheless exhilarating.

“This is quite a moment for me,” said Pietrowski, 68. “We were quite proud of what we did in those days. Today, I watch every launch I can. It still gives me a thrill.”

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