Rocket Man

the long version

"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