"Astronaut John Glenn heard only silence as heat began to build up in his Mercury capsule. Just four feet behind him, the temperature rose to 9,500 degrees-almost as hot as the surface of the sun. The glow outside of the window was a bright orange. Glenn's back began to tense. If the heat shield was down, that was where he would feel the heat first. Would Friendship 7 return to Earth as a giant fireball? Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET