Our first man in space

HIS SAFE RETURN

(“Read all about it”, hear it on KFI 640)

This was breaking news fifty years ago.  Here, below, are the original Tear Sheets from Associated Press.  Kerwin Hoover, KFI News, ripped them off the TTY machines.  The Urgent News Bells had sounded.  These sheets were carried into the on air, studio to be read live.

I had asked that Kerwin save them for me!  He did!  I have, now, put the discolored and brittle paper into the hand of Kerwin’s son, John Hoover.

Read these fading sheets, at full screen.

The sound of this news is from the sound tracks I disk recorded from NBC for KFI. (Click HERE for a list of audio clips.)

The AP byline is Frank Carey, the Date: Jn11 56 AES

Remember that this had never been done before!  We didn’t know from one minute to the next, what might happen.  We could lose our pilot by fire or water or perhaps from space, itself.

We can feel the tension in the NBC, announcer’s voice, and share the relief in the shouts of the cheering seamen on deck of the recovery ship.

This story was first told in pieces, as it happened.  Here are the pieces again for you to put together, Our Hero’s welcome.                            Newcomb