Chapter 76: Creating History
On May 5, at the Cape Canaveral Launch Site in Florida, NASA was preparing to execute its first manned spaceflight mission—the launch of the Freedom 7 spacecraft.
From America’s perspective, this was also a milestone moment in America aerospace history.
Although a step behind the Soviet Union, second place globally was still an honor.
However, on the eve of the launch, an unexpected decision by NASA Director James Webber completely changed the original history.
“Sorry, I feel uneasy. NASA has had too many failure cases in the past, and I’m very afraid this launch will fail again.
In the past, rocket launch failures were just problems with the rocket itself, but this time we have a human astronaut. To be conservative, my opinion is to replace the astronaut with a gorilla,” James Webber said.
James Webber furrowed his brows, looking like he had seriously thought it over.
The NASA high-level officials in attendance looked at each other in dismay. The launch was tomorrow, and now he was saying to switch to a gorilla?
Gagarin had already been sent into space a month ago. Weren’t they in a hurry?
Didn’t they need a successful manned spaceflight mission to boost morale?
More importantly, saying now to switch to a gorilla—where to find a gorilla in one day?
There’s no zoo at this godforsaken Cape Canaveral Launch Site in Florida.
At the meeting, opinions weren’t just clashing intensely; no one approved of Webber’s opinion.
They strongly advocated launching as planned, reasoning that a delay would damage America’s international reputation, and felt Webber’s worry was completely baseless.
At this moment, Kennedy’s voice rang out in the room over the telephone:
“I fully support James Webber’s opinion. This matter is up to him to decide.”
Only after James Webber had the military staff bring the gorilla into the meeting room on a cart did everyone realize that James Webber had planned this in advance.
Everyone had known for a while that the NASA director had changed, and the White House had sent a special assistant for aerospace affairs, so there would definitely be major personnel changes internally.
But two months had passed, and neither James Webber nor Lin Ran had made any moves.
They had thought Washington was satisfied with NASA’s work, but it turned out they were waiting here for them.
Everyone’s hearts were suspended. If it really failed, wouldn’t that be slapping their faces on the ground?
The risk control of so many NASA people couldn’t match James Webber’s intuition.
Soon, the meeting room’s outcome spread throughout NASA. This decision was a bolt from the blue, shocking everyone, especially Shepard.
As the first astronaut preparing to enter space, Allen Shepard had undergone months of rigorous training, full of expectation and pride.
However, a few hours before the launch, he was summoned to Webber’s office. Webber gravely explained: “Allen, I know this is difficult to accept for you, but the rocket has potential risk. I can’t let our astronaut take risks. We’ve decided to test safety with a gorilla.”
Shepard had actually heard about it earlier, but hearing James Webber say it to him personally still left him with mixed feelings.
He couldn’t understand Webber’s sudden decision at all.
As an astronaut, his sense of honor and sense of mission made it hard for him to accept.
His dream—to become America’s first man in space—seemed to have been taken away by a gorilla.
He tried to suppress his emotions and calmly responded: “Director, I believe I can complete the mission. I’m ready.”
However, Webber firmly stated that they must act cautiously this time, and if the gorilla launch succeeded, Shepard would soon get the next opportunity.
After leaving the office, Shepard returned alone to his room, his heart surging with emotion. He felt anger and disappointment, even a trace of humiliation.
On launch day, media from all sides were gathered at the Cape Canaveral Launch Site in Florida, including European newspapers.
Everyone had heard about NASA’s last-minute decision over breakfast. When the pre-launch press conference began, the scene was in an uproar, with reporters’ doubts coming one after another.
At the press conference, Webber explained: “We must ensure the rocket’s safety. This is responsibility toward future missions. The gorilla’s launch will provide key data.”
Lin Ran stepped forward at the right moment, placing a transparent glass box on the table. He took a prepared letter from the pocket of his suit jacket:
“Everyone, I hope under your witness, you watch me place this letter into this transparent box.
This letter explains the reason why we are replacing the human astronaut with a gorilla.
After the launch ends, everyone will jointly open this letter.”
After speaking, Lin Ran stuffed the letter into the box, and the discussion in the room grew louder.
Those who could come here were all veteran reporters; they had never seen such a spectacle.
NASA’s engineers were even more panicked, not knowing what tricks the new director and special assistant for aerospace affairs were playing.
The entire morning, the launch site atmosphere was tense, solemn, and eerie.
Shepard stood in the observation area, watching the Redstone Rocket loaded with the gorilla.
He hoped the launch would succeed, to prove the rocket safe so he could regain his opportunity soon; at the same time, he vaguely felt something was off.
At 9:34, the rocket ignited and lifted off, the roar deafening. It smoothly reached an altitude of 187 kilometers, then the automatic control system began to malfunction.
Just 2 minutes and 15 seconds into the scheduled orbital flight, the spacecraft started rolling uncontrollably to the left.
“Oh no! The spacecraft is rolling to the left, roll rate about 1 degree per second. ASCS cannot correct this problem!”
“Roll rate is increasing.”
“Speed has increased to 10 degrees per second. ASCS is completely out of control!”
“There must be a component failure in the control system!”
“It’s over!”
The ground control center was in chaos. They watched helplessly from real-time monitoring as the Freedom 7 spacecraft lost control, then burned up upon re-entering the atmosphere, and subsequently crashed in the atmosphere.
Because if the spacecraft couldn’t maintain the correct attitude when re-entering the atmosphere, the heat shield couldn’t protect it, and the spacecraft would burn up or disintegrate under high temperature.
Robert Gilruth in the control center was already numb.
The spacecraft really had a problem.
And after learning the news, James Webber loudly announced:
“NASA’s control center just reported that this Freedom 7 spacecraft launch has failed. It unfortunately burned up during re-entry into the atmosphere.
Everyone should later be able to find photos of it disintegrating in the air from aerospace enthusiasts.
Or you can wait for NASA’s official photos to be provided to everyone.”
James Webber continued: “Our timely discovery avoided an accident, protecting the astronaut’s life.
Next, Professor Lin will explain the ins and outs of this event to everyone. It’s also time to open the letter we prepared from the beginning.”
