“A real fireball” and a landing near Puerto Rico

Because the retrorocket package had been kept in place, Glenn had to operate several systems manually during reentry, including retracting the periscope. As the package burned away in the atmosphere, he saw glowing chunks flying past the window and briefly feared they were pieces of the heat shield itself.

“This is Friendship 7 — a real fireball outside,” Glenn radioed Mission Control. After peak heating, the spacecraft oscillated so severely that Glenn compared it to a “falling leaf” — both the automatic and manual fuel tanks ran dry before the drogue chute deployed, yet the capsule stabilized and the main parachute opened correctly.

Friendship 7 splashed down in the Atlantic about 350 km northwest of Puerto Rico, 64 km short of the planned zone. The destroyer USS Noa reached the capsule within seventeen minutes. It was too hot inside the cabin, so instead of the upper hatch Glenn blew the side hatch — the detonator’s recoil slightly cut his knuckles through the glove.