IT may sometimes seem that journalism is about bad news, and that only crises make headlines. But this week everyone, ourselves included, enjoys the chronicling of the making of an American hero.

After all the long hours of TV suspense, and the celebrations and reunions that followed, what more is there to say? Quite a lot, as the first seven pages of TIME this week will show. Not only does TIME Associate Editor Jim Atwater describe the orbiting of the globe in terms of the suspense that only those on the inside knew about at the time, but TIME has over the past weeks sought out dozens of people who knew John Glenn when, Ted Williams, the baseball player who served with Glenn in the Marines, a minister who was his boyhood companion in New Concord and remembers his enthusiasms for Glenn Miller and Buck Rogers, his old commanding officer in Korea, all provide chips of bright color that fit into the mosaic of Astronaut Glenn's life.

WITH this week's issue, TIME'S U.S. circulation increases to 2,700,000. This is 150,000 higher than a year ago; 250,000 higher than two years ago, and 700,000 higher than just six years ago. (And all this does not include the 675,000 circulation of our six international editions.)

Interest in the news, and demand for TIME, we are happy to say, has never been higher. In the past two years, our newsstand sales have increased 30%, and our gain in copies sold is five times that of Newsweek and U.S. News combined.

Of course, the overwhelming majority of TIME-reading families are subscribers. Of these, an impressive 80% have signed up for anywhere from one to five years. The most important figure to any publisher is his renewal rate, for this tells whether a magazine gives value to those it serves. Last year renewal orders accounted for a greater share of total subscriptions than ever before, and you may be sure that all of us at TIME appreciate this strong vote of confidence.

One final figure: TIME is the only magazine that has close to a 2-to-1 lead over the nearest competitor in its field.

TIME's own growth has plunged us into the merry world of automation. Subscribers may note that their mailing labels are now white instead of pink, and that the type looks different, because your name and address are now "printed" by electrical impulse. This is just one small consequence of a massive switch that we have recently made from punch cards to a new system of Electronic Data Processing, which stores coded facts for each subscription on tapes.

These fine electronic brains have an inhuman weakness: they respond only when addressed properly. As Colonel Glenn was saying, there is still room for man in this machine age. You will find a notice in this week's letter column, in which we ask that you include your mailing label (that's the kind of impulse the machine is taught to understand) in any correspondence you may have concerning your subscription, and that you use the form provided to let us know of any change of address. This will help us carry out your instructions accurately and faster. The machine thanks you too.

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