SPACE COVERAGE PHOTOGRAPHS

FINDING AID

PROJECT MERCURY

• CBS NEWS
• ARTHUR GODFREY/CBS RADIO
• ABC NEWS
• NBC NEWS
• CAPE CANAVERAL, FL-MISCELLENEOUS
• MERCURY ASTRONAUTS TESTIFY TO CONGRESS, 1962

1. CBS News Correspondent Walter Cronkite, in sunglasses and a short-sleeve shirt, talks in the early 1960s with "Voice of Mercury Control" Lt. Col. John A. "Shorty" Powers, right, in front of the Voice of America radio broadcasting trailer's sign at a Project Mercury press site at Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Source unknown.)
2. Second copy of that photo. (Source unknown.)
   
   
3. CBS News Correspondent Walter Cronkite, in a suit and tie, sits in an indoor studio at the anchor desk, behind a big microphone and in front of a CBS-logo camera, with "CONTROL CENTER CBS NEWS" written in large letters behind him on a glass wall. Parts of a world wall map and the nearby control room are also visible in this circa 1962 photo taken at Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Source possibly CBS News.)
   
   
4. In the CBS News Control Center at Cape Canaveral, producer Robert J. Wussler (right, wearing a headset and looking through a glass wall toward the studio) and other silhouetted men work in the control room. (Source unknown, possibly CBS News.)
5. Four men in foreground in the control room portion of CBS News "CONTROL CENTER CAPE CANAVERAL" sit at monitors. A rotary-dial telephone rests in front of them. An "ASSOCIATED PRESS" teletype machine, another teletype machine (possibly for United Press International), and a CBS-logo camera can be seen at the rear of the studio in the background. (Source unknown, possibly CBS News.)
6. Walter Cronkite (second from left in studio) anchors CBS News Mercury coverage produced by Robert J. Wussler (in control room, in foreground, wearing headset, with four other men nearby). At least 13 monitors are fully or partially visible on the wall inside the control room; one shows a rocket on the pad. This photo may depict coverage of the 1962 launch of John H. Glenn aboard "Friendship7." An on-screen countdown-clock graphic on at least one monitor appears to indicate this photo was taken at about T minus 55 minutes, that is, before liftoff. (Source unknown, possibly CBS News.)
7. CBS News Correspondent Walter Cronkite anchors Mercury-Atlas launch coverage from CBS News Control Center Cape Canaveral. Man at right wearing headset is probably producer Robert J. Wussler. (Source unknown.)
8. Two men (one on the telephone, the other wearing a headset) sit in the CBS News control room surrounded by lots of equipment. (Source unknown.)
9. Sign labels trailer or temporary building as "CBS News Project Mercury Headquarters" at Cape Canaveral, Florida, circa 1962. Three casually dressed men relax outside, including one who is smiling and adding a decorative touch: a mini potted palmetto-like plant. In the background, a platform-mounted, CBS-logo camera is visible. (Source unknown.)

1. Radio-TV personality Arthur Godfrey, flanked by two unidentified men, stands by a platform railing, probably watching a Mercury countdown or launch, circa early 1960s. (Source unknown.)
2. Second copy of that photo. (Source unknown.)
   
   
3. Walter Cronkite (in short-shirtsleeves), "Voice of Mercury Control" Lt. Col. John A. "Shorty" Powers, and radio-TV personality Arthur Godfrey, apparently at a Mercury launch from Cape Canaveral FL, circa 1961-63. (Source unknown.)

1. (possibly all or mostly from time around astronaut John H. Glenn's "Friendship 7" launch and flight, which took place, after weeks of postponements, on Tuesday 20 February 1962)
2. Wide shot captioned "AMERICA'S FIRST SPACE NURSE," referring to USAF Lt. Delores O'Hara. She is being interviewed outdoors under palm trees at Cape Canaveral FL by ABC News Science Editor Jules [Verne] Bergman; cameraman Murray Alvey, left, and soundman George Gerlach Sr., right, are also in the shot. (Photo Credit: ABC Television Network Press Information.)
3. In a shot captioned "DECISION MAKER," ABC News Science Editor Jules Bergman interviews Project Mercury chief operations officer Walt Williams in front of a capsule-booster-separation graphic, for the "ABC Evening Report" broadcast. (Photo Credit: ABC News.)
4. A shot captioned "CONTROL TRUCK" shows a launch-morning close-up of ABC-TV engineer Ray Lopez checking TV monitors at Cape Canaveral FL. (Photo Credit: ABC News.)
   
5. Group wide shot captioned "POOL REPRESENTATIVES" shows network TV-radio pool representatives standing outdoors at Cape Canaveral FL, "two months before the launch," specifically ABC's Lew Schollenberger, original pool producer-coordinator; NBC News "commentator" Roy Neal; ABC's Frank LaTourette, who set up ABC's coverage and substituted for an injured Schollenberger; CBS News producer Robert J. "Bob" Wussler; NBC News producer James W. ("Jim") Kitchell; NBC's Elmer Lower; and Mutual Radio's Les Learned. (Photo Credit: ABC News.)
   
   
6. ABC News Science Editor Jules Bergman, in shirtsleeves behind a desk, at ABC News remote studio at Cape Canaveral FL, with countdown clock on wall behind him between two monitors labeled "RECOVERY AREA" and "MERCURY CONTROL." (Photo Credit: ABC News.)
7. ABC News Science Editor Jules Bergman, in suit and tie holding notes or a script, stands near a full-scale model of a Mercury space capsule and its emergency launch escape system. (Photo Credit: ABC News.)
   
   
8. ABC News Correspondent Roger Sharp (left)and ABC News Science Editor Jules Bergman sit at ABC's remote studio at Cape Canaveral FL (two scale models on their anchor desk depict the Mercury capsule and the Mercury-Atlas capsule-rocket combination); probably astronaut John H. Glenn's "Friendship 7" flight or later. (Photo Credit: ABC News.)
   
   
9. In a shot captioned "PRODUCERS," TV-radio pool producer Frank LaTourette, of ABC, shows ABC-TV's set-up to late-substitute ABC News producer Sid Darion. (Photo Credit: ABC News.)
10. ABC News Science Editor Jules Bergman, a licensed pilot, stands by ABC News airplane at Cape Canaveral FL. (Photo Credit: ABC News.)
11. ABC News Science Editor Jules Bergman, a licensed pilot, at the controls of a small Cherokee airplane, probably at Cape Canaveral FL. (Source unstated but probably ABC News.)
12. ABC-TV's Frank LaTourette outdoors holds some sort of long special antenna at Cape Canaveral FL. (Source unknown but possibly ABC News.)

1. NBC News producer James W. ("Jim") Kitchell, left, and NBC News space reporter Roy Neal, right, listen as "Voice of Mercury Control" Lt. Col. John A. "Shorty" Powers, center, explains the functioning of astronaut space helmets and spacesuits. Photo probably taken at Cape Canaveral FL in the early 1960s. (Source Unknown.)
   
   
2. Roy Neal (lying down in contour couch, with consoles above an astronaut training device), left, and NBC News producer James W. ("Jim") Kitchell, right, listen as "Voice of Mercury Control" Lt. Col. John A. "Shorty" Powers explains some details. (Source unknown.)
3. NBC News space correspondent Roy Neal, wearing an earphone, drinks from a white cup with his right hand and holds a cigarette in his left hand as he sits at an outdoors desk marked "NBC NEWS CAPE CANAVERAL," with scrubland visible in the background. (Source unknown.)
4. Medium close-up of NBC News space correspondent Roy Neal, wearing an earpiece and sitting at "NBC NEWS CAPE CANAVERAL" desk outdoors, with Florida coastal scrubland and a launch pad visible in the background. (Source unknown.)
5. Roy Neal, left, and James W. ("Jim") Kitchell, right, in business suits, indoors in a warehouse-like setting looking at unassembled customized couches labeled as being for astronauts Virgil I. Gus GRISSOM, John H. GLENN, and Alan B. SHEPARD, circa 1961 or 1962. (Source unknown.)
6. Roy Neal sits at a platform-mounted desk outdoors marked "NBC NEWS," with a platform marked "CBS NEWS" to his left and a handmade finger-pointing sign labeled "FORT HAGERTY" pointing from there off toward Neal's right. This refers to ABC News President James ("Jim") Hagerty, who had been press secretary to USA President Dwight D. Eisenhower. (Source unknown.)
7. Second copy of above photo. (Source unknown.)
   
   
8. A youthful, smiling reporter Jay Barbree, wearing a light-colored dress jacket, stands outdoors holding an "NBC" microphone and a long attached cord, with Florida coastal scrubland as a backdrop. He has a "PRESS POOL TO BE ESCORTED" badge attached to the upper-left side of his jacket. Special Note: As of May 2003, Mr. Barbree is the only journalist who has covered all 144 USA human space flights to date, from 1961's Alan B. Shepard Freedom 7 suborbital hop through 2003's Columbia STS-107 disastrous breakup on reentry, plus a great many of the robotic missions. He has been with NBC News since mid-1958. (Source unknown.)
   
   
9. Reporter Jay Barbree, in a short-sleeved shirt, looks through binoculars (probably toward a launch pad) and holds an "NBC" microphone (with long cord attached), with Florida coastal scrubland in the background. (Source unknown.)
10. NBC News Correspondent Peter Hackes does a stand-up report by on a hillock containing a partly buried building labeled "PAD A" (it is clearly not an actual launch pad), with a launch pad visible to his right, off in the distance. (Source unknown.)
11. Under some palm trees, NBC News Correspondent Peter Hackes conducts a sit-down interview, with a man who may be a NASA official or a contractor representative, with a lighting man standing nearby holding a silvery foil sheet and a camera man recording it on film. (Source unknown.)

1. "Trailer City" press site at Cape Canaveral FL, including a CBS News trailer (2nd from left); trailers were used for Grissom's and Glenn's flights of Friday 21 July 1961 and Tuesday 20 February 1962, replacing the station wagons used for the Shepard flight of Friday 5 May 1961, and preceding the temporary buildings put up for later flights. (Source unknown.)
2. Long shot, possibly from press site area, of a Mercury-Atlas on pad at Cape Canaveral FL. (Source unknown.)
   
   
3. Man wearing hardhat labeled "R. GOLDEN" reporting by base of a launch pad (probably a Mercury-Atlas rocket circa early 1960s). (Source unknown.)
   
   
4. Man, apparently a videotape editor, wearing a headset and looking at scripts indoors. (Source unknown.)
5. Man in suit and sunglasses standing to side of TV camera atop trailer or building (possibly Frank McGee of NBC News, maybe for Virgil I. Grissom or John H. Glenn Mercury launches). (Source unknown.)
6. Six men work in control room, including two men with headsets. (Source unknown.)
7. Stout man in glasses sits wearing headset marked "VIDEO TAPE," with what look like rundown sheets in front of him on his desk. Twelve-hour clock on the wall reads about 7:33. (Source unknown.)
8. Camera operator with headset sits by a camera aimed at a Mercury-Atlas rocket in the medium distance, probably in 1962 or 1963. (Source unknown.)

1. En banke shot of three Mercury 7 astronauts, Alan B. Shepard, Virgil I."Gus" Grissom, and John H. Glenn--first, second, and third USA astronauts in space--as they testify to a congressional panel in Washington DC about NASA's budget, circa Thursday 1 March 1962; apparently this photo was published in Broadcasting magazine. (Source unknown.)
   
   
2. Same as above. (Source unknown.)
3. Smaller version of above. (Source unknown.)
4. Vertical-strip shot of Grissom looking pensive/thoughtful. (Source unknown.)

For further information, contact the Library of American Broadcasting.