There was a time during the countdown when there was a problem with the inverter in the Redstone. [L.] Gordon Cooper [Jr.] was the voice communicator in the block house.

So he called and said, "This inverter is not working in the Redstone. They're going to pull the gantry back in, and we're going to change inverters. It's probably going to take about an hour, an hour-and-a-half." And I said, "Well, if that's the case then I would like to get out and relieve myself."

We had been working with a device to collect urine during the flight that worked pretty well in zero-gravity but it really didn't work very well when you're lying on your back with your feet up in the air like you were on the Redstone. And I thought my bladder was getting a little full and, if I had some time, I'd like to relieve myself.

So I said. . . , "Gordo, would you check and see if I can get out and relieve myself quickly . . . ?"

And Gordo came back . . ., I guess after there were some discussions going on outside—it took about 3 or 4 minutes—and finally came back and said [in a German accent], "No, he says; [Wernher] von Braun says, 'The astronaut shall stay in the nosecone.'"

So I said, "Well, all right that's fine but I'm going to go to the bathroom."

And they said, "Well, you can't do that because you've got wires all over your body and will have short circuits."

I said, "Don't you guys have a switch that turns off those wires?"

And they said, "Yea, we've got a switch."

So I said, "Please turn the switch off."

Well, I relieved myself and of course with a cotton undergarment, which we had on, it soaked up immediately in the undergarment and with 100% oxygen flowing through that spacecraft, . . . I was totally dry by the time we launched.

But somebody did say something about me being in the world's first wetback in space. [Laughter]