FOR ENGINEERS, IT'S A SENSE OF PRIDE, DEJA VU; ROCKETDYNE WORKERS, RETIREES LAUD GLENN'S FIRST, LATEST FEAT.

Byline: Sharline Chiang Daily News Staff Writer

Crammed nervously in front of a television in a Rocketdyne conference room Thursday morning were the engineers who helped put John Glenn into space - twice.

``I've watched, I think, every shuttle launch and this one seems more intense because of the passenger,'' said Vince Wheelock, 66, of Westlake Village, who helped build and monitor the engines of the Atlas rocket used in the Friendship 7 mission, Glenn's first.

``(It) was during a time when there was a severe Cold War going on and the Russians had beaten us in going up,'' he said. ``Today we're more relaxed. We have a lot more history and experience behind us.''

Behind closed doors at 11 a.m. Thursday, eight other Rocketdyne engineers in Canoga Park were on what looked like a ``Star Trek'' set - the Rocket Operations Support Center.

Sitting in magenta swivel chairs, they monitored the Discovery shuttle engines they helped build. Data from engine sensors beamed to satellites and flashed across huge black walls at Rocketdyne.

Members of the Space Shuttle Main Engine division watched the live countdown on a small TV screen.

``Oh God, it's just too exciting, knowing that you helped these men go up in space,'' said Natalie J. Faber, 42, a cost analyst from Simi Valley.

And with Glenn aboard ``it's like reliving part of that history,'' she said.

Sure the place had seen plenty of other missions.

But at Rocketdyne on Thursday, the suspense and thrill in the air before the space shuttle Discovery took off was downright palpable.

After all, Glenn was going up. Again.

And engines built by Rocketdyne would be blasting him into space. Again.

Making another mark in space exploration history, Glenn, 77, the first American to orbit Earth in 1962, was hurtled along with six other astronauts from Cape Canaveral in Florida.

Wheelock recalled how engineers on the 1962 mission were sent to San Diego and sat on call in case of an engine problem. They were equipped only with a table, a row of black rotary telephones and television sets.

At Rocketdyne on Thursday was Christopher Barr, 24, a development engineer from Santa Monica who helped build the engines for the Discovery.

``I've physically touched them. . . . We put it together, we did the design, inspection and certifying,'' Barr said. ``There is always a lot of emotion when a rocket goes up.''

As the final countdown neared, employees in the Rocketdyne conference room glued their eyes to the television screen with the intensity of fans rooting for the home team. Their players? Three engines dubbed simply 2043, 2045 and 2048.

When an announcement was made at T-minus five minutes that an errant aircraft had caused a delay, the whole room groaned. Each time the announcer checked in saying the engine sequence was on schedule, the room broke into applause.

When the orbiter finally blasted off, a burst of cheer was followed by more nail-biting. Would the engines hold up? Was the pressure right? Was the temperature too hot? Would there be a leak?

Eventually the white ship on the screen turned from pencil-size to a peanut to a tiny dot and then disappeared.

The launch had been a success.

``Your heart never stops beating fast. . . . I know a lot of things have to go right at the same time,'' said William Vietinghoff, 70, of Thousand Oaks, a retired engineer who helped build the Atlas engines in 1962.

By the time the crowd broke up and returned to regular duties, Glenn was somewhere out in space above them, on his victory lap around the world.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos

PHOTO (1) In Rocketdyne's Rocket Operations Support Center, employees monitor data on screens covering engine temperature, pressurization and ignition Thursday morning.

(2) From left, Rocketdyne engineers Vahid Razi, Robert Arnoldt and Tim Robertson applaud Discovery's successful launching Thursday.

(3) Vince Wheelock, a retired Rocketdyne employee who worked on John Glenn's first flight, stands in front of a shuttle engine nozzle while visiting the facility to watch Thursday's launch.

Tina Gerson/Daily News