PROFILE: DIETITIAN FED ASTRONAUTS RIGHT STUFF

In 1961, Jean McKay was the only dietitian assigned to the Air Force Surgeon General's office in Washington, D.C. One April day she was ordered to be in Cape Canaveral at 8 the following morning. She didn't know why she was going and was not allowed to tell anyone where she was going except her husband.

At 1:30 a.m. a week later, McKay fed Freedom 7 astronaut Alan B. Shepard Jr. his pre-flight meal of filet mignon, eggs, toast and Tang before he blasted off into history.

McKay, who now lives in San Diego, Calif., graduated from Illmo High School in 1941 and was in Cape Girardeau over weekend for a high school reunion. She is the sister of Sam Trainum of Cape Girardeau.

The day she arrived at Cape Canaveral, McKay learned that America was about to make its first manned space flight, a mission that hadn't been publicly announced yet. The candidates for the honor had been narrowed to three -- Shepard, John Glenn and Gus Grissom. An Air Force surgeon, nurse and McKay had been assigned to safeguard their health.

Her job was to supervise their meals, keep records of everything they consumed and analyze their diets for NASA.

They were serious young men but also practical jokers. She says, "A lot of that had to do with relieving the tension, I suppose."

One night she supervised a dinner for all seven Mercury astronauts and some NASA officials at the medical station. Famed scientist Wernher von Braun was present. Glenn sneaked in a bottle of brandy to toast the historic occasion. The conversation was over her head but fascinating. She says, "That night I knew, without a doubt, that we truly were on the threshold of something new -- something big, and that space was going to be the next frontier. It was a night I will never forget."

When McKay served breakfast to Shepard and his backup Glenn the morning of May 5, 1961, both were very calm. At 3:30 a.m., Shepard donned his space suit and went to the launch pad. He entered the capsule two hours later. There were four holds in the countdown before McKay saw the Redstone rocket begin to rise at 9:31 a.m.

Walter Cronkite relayed the details to the country from the back of a station wagon.

Shepard's flight occurred one month after the Soviet Union's Yuri Gagarin made the first manned trip into space. Americans are almost nonchalant about the launch of each new space shuttle mission now, but America's first manned venture into space was a different matter. "We'd never done this," McKay said. "We didn't know if he was coming back."

Shepard flew 300 miles to a height of 116 1/2 miles above the earth. When the medical crew heard his voice say he had splashed down and could see the Marine helicopters, everyone began crying.

She retired from the Air Force a short while afterward with the rank of captain.

At Illmo High School, McKay was the valedictorian of her graduating class and played on the basketball team. She attended Southeast Missouri State University for two years before transferring to Iowa State University to get her degree as a dietitian. She joined the Air Force a few years later.

McKay's late husband, William, was an Air Force pilot. At one point in his career, they were stationed in Tel Aviv, Israel, where he was the air attach for the U.S. embassy. He also taught at the University of Nebraska before the couple retired to San Diego.

McKay now is the assistant administrator for the Retired Senior Volunteer Patrol, which assists the San Diego Police Department. She also is a docent at the San Diego Aerospace Museum and a member of the Dancing Grandmas, a group of women who don Rockettes-style costumes to dance to Broadway show tunes.

McKay stayed in touch with Shepard until his death. When Glenn flew back into space a few years ago, she returned to Cape Canaveral to see the launch.

"All the first astronauts were fine men," she says, and they had something else in common. "They all hated Tang."