take.
Deke was outraged. Dr. Bill Douglas, the NASA flight surgeon, had said he was A-OK to go up, and Deke was more than ready to go. But it just wasn’t going to happen. To make matters worse, the Air Force followed NASA’s lead and grounded him from flying planes. Marge was heartbroken that her Deke, all muscle and maleness, who drove his Corvette flat out at 120 mph, had been grounded.
One morning, sitting alone at home with the news, she just had to do something. The rotary phone on the kitchen wall beckoned. Oh, what the hell.
She picked it up and asked the operator to place a call to President Kennedy. Yeah right, lady . The girl balked until Marge informed her she was an astronaut wife and it was a matter of national security. Finally connected to the White House, Marge was put on the line with a presidential aide.
“I’m sorry, but I would like to talk to the president.”
The aide was very understanding. He said he knew the president would very much like to speak to Marge, too, but unfortunately he was in a meeting.
Marge had to tell her story to someone, so she explained to the aide how NASA had selected “these extra special men who were specimens of health and strength and all good things,” and now they were breaking their promise, saying, “Oooops! We made a mistake!” As far as Marge was concerned, she was ready to shoot Deke up into orbit herself. She told the aide as much, and also that she didn’t think President Kennedy could possibly be aware of this injustice.
That night the other astronaut wives gathered at Marge’s house to comfort her. “I guess he was glad,” said Marge about Deke’s reaction to the phone call. “In fact, I wish I could have called God.” Marge and her sob sisters cleaned out the liquor supply and Marge composed a press comment for the next morning. But no one ever called for a statement. Well, at least no one called Marge.
She and Jo Schirra sat at Marge’s kitchen counter the next morning, smoking and crying. The two women had become extremely close over the past three years, and considered each other best friends. Although Jo’s Wally had been Deke’s backup and the natural replacement, Wally hadn’t been given the flight. Scott Carpenter had. It was just so unfair. Marge and Jo had no idea why such decisions were made, handed down from on high by NASA. Why wasn’t Wally kept on as next in line? Marge and Jo smoked more cigarettes and held ice cubes in dishrags to their puffy eyes. Seeing each other in such a sad state made the eye faucets turn on again. They were in the mood to cry for just as long as they wanted. This upset was rough on all of them, but they tried not to let feelings of unfairness and jealousy come between them. “Tough days for us gals, but we didn’t let it louse up our relationship,” said Marge. “The men had their job to do and we had our friendship to protect.”
On Aurora 7 , set to take off on May 24, 1962, Scott would be repeating John’s flight, orbiting Earth three times, in addition to carrying out some new experiments. The Carpenters had decided that their kids should go to Cocoa Beach to see Scott’s launch, so Rene called Shorty Powers and informed him of her plan (“the rebel,” joked one of the wives). Rene would be the first wife to view her husband’s launch.
Shorty didn’t like a wife dictating her own plan for the mission, especially after Annie went rogue with the LBJ press opportunity. NASA expected the wives to do as they were told.
Rene asked Shorty to keep her plans under wraps; she didn’t want a circus, the press hounding her.
“Oh, yeah, Rene. We’ll take care of you,” said Shorty. Then he proceeded to inform all the networks. Rene didn’t let Shorty in on any more secrets.
When she got down to Cocoa Beach, she wore big sunglasses and tied a scarf around her head because she’d been warned that the news had stakeout cars along the Strip.
It seemed excessive, but coverage of an
Deke was outraged. Dr. Bill Douglas, the NASA flight surgeon, had said he was A-OK to go up, and Deke was more than ready to go. But it just wasn’t going to happen. To make matters worse, the Air Force followed NASA’s lead and grounded him from flying planes. Marge was heartbroken that her Deke, all muscle and maleness, who drove his Corvette flat out at 120 mph, had been grounded.
One morning, sitting alone at home with the news, she just had to do something. The rotary phone on the kitchen wall beckoned. Oh, what the hell.
She picked it up and asked the operator to place a call to President Kennedy. Yeah right, lady . The girl balked until Marge informed her she was an astronaut wife and it was a matter of national security. Finally connected to the White House, Marge was put on the line with a presidential aide.
“I’m sorry, but I would like to talk to the president.”
The aide was very understanding. He said he knew the president would very much like to speak to Marge, too, but unfortunately he was in a meeting.
Marge had to tell her story to someone, so she explained to the aide how NASA had selected “these extra special men who were specimens of health and strength and all good things,” and now they were breaking their promise, saying, “Oooops! We made a mistake!” As far as Marge was concerned, she was ready to shoot Deke up into orbit herself. She told the aide as much, and also that she didn’t think President Kennedy could possibly be aware of this injustice.
That night the other astronaut wives gathered at Marge’s house to comfort her. “I guess he was glad,” said Marge about Deke’s reaction to the phone call. “In fact, I wish I could have called God.” Marge and her sob sisters cleaned out the liquor supply and Marge composed a press comment for the next morning. But no one ever called for a statement. Well, at least no one called Marge.
She and Jo Schirra sat at Marge’s kitchen counter the next morning, smoking and crying. The two women had become extremely close over the past three years, and considered each other best friends. Although Jo’s Wally had been Deke’s backup and the natural replacement, Wally hadn’t been given the flight. Scott Carpenter had. It was just so unfair. Marge and Jo had no idea why such decisions were made, handed down from on high by NASA. Why wasn’t Wally kept on as next in line? Marge and Jo smoked more cigarettes and held ice cubes in dishrags to their puffy eyes. Seeing each other in such a sad state made the eye faucets turn on again. They were in the mood to cry for just as long as they wanted. This upset was rough on all of them, but they tried not to let feelings of unfairness and jealousy come between them. “Tough days for us gals, but we didn’t let it louse up our relationship,” said Marge. “The men had their job to do and we had our friendship to protect.”
On Aurora 7 , set to take off on May 24, 1962, Scott would be repeating John’s flight, orbiting Earth three times, in addition to carrying out some new experiments. The Carpenters had decided that their kids should go to Cocoa Beach to see Scott’s launch, so Rene called Shorty Powers and informed him of her plan (“the rebel,” joked one of the wives). Rene would be the first wife to view her husband’s launch.
Shorty didn’t like a wife dictating her own plan for the mission, especially after Annie went rogue with the LBJ press opportunity. NASA expected the wives to do as they were told.
Rene asked Shorty to keep her plans under wraps; she didn’t want a circus, the press hounding her.
“Oh, yeah, Rene. We’ll take care of you,” said Shorty. Then he proceeded to inform all the networks. Rene didn’t let Shorty in on any more secrets.
When she got down to Cocoa Beach, she wore big sunglasses and tied a scarf around her head because she’d been warned that the news had stakeout cars along the Strip.
It seemed excessive, but coverage of an
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