2022/03/05 13:57:26
Mercury Capsule, Friendship 7. On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. He rode in this Mercury spacecraft, which was launched by an Atlas rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida. Glenn orbited three times in a mission lasting just under five hours. After Friendship 7 splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean, Glenn became a national hero. The United States was in a heated Space Race with the Soviet Union. His orbital flight finally matched the achievement of two Soviet cosmonauts in 1961. Transferred from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration

Steven F Udvar-Hazy Center - National Air and Space Museum < Virginia < United States < Places