A Real Fireball Outside by Mark Karvon

Launching atop an Atlas rocket on February 20, 1962, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in the Mercury spacecraft Friendship 7. As the craft began its second orbit, Mission Control received a signal which indicated that the critical heat shield was loose. If the heat shield were to fail during reentry, John Glenn would be lost along with the disintegrating spacecraft.

The retrorocket package which is used to slow the spacecraft so it can reenter the Earth's atmosphere would normally be jettisoned during reentry but the decision was made to leave it in place in hopes it would provide extra support to keep the potentially loose heat shield in place. Glenn described the reentry as "a real fireball outside" and "had great chunks of that retropack breaking off all the way through".

Note: The a copyright watermark is not present on the actual print.

Prints are signed by the artist and feature an extra 1" border to allow for matting and framing.