At 6:30 p.m. a balding man in crepe-soled shoes and a dark blue suit strolled quietly into the blockhouse opposite Pad No. 5 at Cape Canaveral, where Juno II stood tall and white with the gold-plated conePioneer IVhidden in its nose. Carrying his 72-page countdown book, he ambled around the blockhouse. The countdown had begun at 12:06 p.m. and was going well. He looked up at the rocket. "Very dignified," he observed approvingly. Later, as is his custom, he patted it affectionately before taking his position behind the three sheets of thick tempered...
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