In 1964, On my first evening with the U-2 program, I was introduced to Barry, "one of the drivers." Upon my questioning Barry regarding Powers, he stated that "Frank did as well as any of us would have under the circumstances." I found this to be the attitude of the other pilots and all personnel who had served with Powers held FGP in high regard.
The cover story fell apart when the route map was found. Even if he had managed to throw the destruct switches, there would have been enough pieces found of the very impressive "B" camera and the elint recorders to tell the tale. The AI jammer in the tail (separated in the initial airframe breakup) was not compatible with the NASA weather ship story. While not denying the undeniable, Powers was able to deflect many questions by pretending to be just a stick monkey who pressed certain switches at certain points on the chart but had not been allowed to know anything of his payload.
Among the secrets he kept to himself were the Brit participation in the U-2 program, the many U-2 middle eastern missions, the names of his fellow U-2 pilots. He let the Russians believe he had been a couple of thousand feet lower than actual when he had been shot down. As already mentioned, he was offered the needle as an option. He could have declined to take it with him and still would have been launched.
Kubarque