Just after John Glenn's Friendship 7 plunked safely into the sea, a wiry, inconspicuous-looking man in rimless glasses hustled out of the Mercury control blockhouse at Cape Canaveral to telephone St. Louis. Moments later, 22,000 workers at the McDonnell Aircraft plant laid down their slide rules and wrenches to hear the boss's long-distance words piped over the public-address system. Said James Smith McDonnell, 62: "This is Mac calling all the team!" Then, after exulting over the orbital shot and praising the "great teamwork" that accomplished it, he signed off: "My congratulations...
To continue reading:
or
Log-In
