PERTH, Australia -- The people of Western Australia have once again been asked to turn on the lights when John Glenn passes overhead during his historic return to space.
The Western Australia state government said Tuesday it wants residents to help recreate the sight Glenn saw as he passed over during his three-orbit flight in February 1962.
Then, residents stayed up until midnight and turned on every house light to send a welcome message to Glenn, the U.S. Senator from New Concord, Ohio. Every street lamp and neon sign was also lit.
According to Tom Wolfe's book "The Right Stuff," Glenn saw the clouds part to reveal "an absolute mass of electric lights" in two groups, one Perth, the other the town of Rockingham to the south.
"The lights show up very well," Glenn radioed to astronaut Gordon Cooper at a tracking station in Australia. "Please thank everybody for turning them on will you?"
Perth, 2,100 miles west of Sydney on the Indian Ocean, has traded on its reputation as the "City of Lights" ever since.
State Premier Richard Court said NASA had advised that, if the launch goes as scheduled Thursday, the best time for Glenn to see Perth's lights will be 12:32 a.m. (16:32 GMT) on Oct. 31.
But Glenn's flight path will take him farther north than last time, and his ability to see Perth will not be as good, Court said.
