“Friendship 7,” said the capcom. “We have been reading an indication on the ground of segment 5–1, which is Landing Bag Deploy. We suspect this is an erroneous signal. However, Cape would like you to check this by putting the landing-bag switch in auto position, and seeing if you get a light. Do you concur with this? Over.” It slowly dawned on him … Have been reading … For how long? … Quite a little surprise. And they hadn’t told him! They’d held it back! I am a pilot and they refuse to tell me things they know about the condition of the craft! The insult was worse than the danger!
