The flight into space that made
Pilot-Capt. Dan Barstow famous.


The flight was listed at GHQ as _Project Songbird_. It was sponsored by
the Space Medicine Labs of the U.S. Air Force. And its pilot was Captain
Dan Barstow.

A hand-picked man, Dan Barstow, chosen for the AF's most important
project of the year because he and his VX-3 had already broken all
previous records set by hordes of V-2s, Navy Aerobees and anything else
that flew the skyways.

Dan Barstow, first man to cross the sea of air and sight open, unlimited
space. Pioneer flight to infinity. He grinned and hummed to himself as
he settled down for the long jaunt. Too busy to be either thrilled or
scared he considered the thirty-seven instruments he'd have to read, the
twice that many records to keep, and the miles of camera film to run. He
had been hand-picked and thoroughly conditioned to take it all without
more than a ten percent increase in his pulse rate. So he worked as
matter-of-factly as if he were down in the Gs Centrifuge of the Space
Medicine Labs where he had been schooled for this trip for months.

He kept up a running fire of oral reports through his helmet radio, down
to Rough Rock and his CO. "All Roger, sir ... temperature falling fast
but this rubberoid space suit keeps me cozy, no chills ... Doc Blaine
will be happy to hear that! Weightless sensations pretty queer and I
feel upside-down as much as rightside-up, but no bad effects.... Taking
shots of the sun's corona now with color film ... huh? Oh, yes, sir,
it's beautiful all right, now that you mention it. But, hell, sir, who's
got the time for aesthetics now?... Oops, _that_ was a close one! Tenth
meteor whizzing past. Makes me think of flak back on those Berlin
bombing runs."

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