Chapter 10, "Righteous Prayer" Summary

Shepard is inserted into his capsule before dawn, but an overheating inverter causes a four-hour delay of the launch. The nation is watching on television. In California, traffic police report thousands of drivers pulling off onto the shoulder of the road to wait out the countdown. The U.S. has recently botched an invasion of Cuba in what will come to be called The Bay of Pigs, and national faith in U.S. abilities is low. More rockets have been exploding or having to be aborted, and everyone is speculating on what must be going through Shepard's mind.

What is going through Shepard's mind is a growing need to pee. The training has worked well. Even though he knows this is the day of his flight, all the practice has succeeded in making this feel like another...