50th Anniversary of John Glenn’s Orbit of Earth
Feb. 20, 2012
Fifty years ago today, astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first American to orbit Earth. As millions of people watched on television, he circled the planet three times in slightly less than five hours in his Friendship 7 spacecraft. Glenn’s mission helped reassure Americans that the United States could successfully compete in the “space race” with the Soviet Union (now Russia). The Soviets had launched the first human being, Yuri A. Gagarin, into space on April 12, 1961. In May 1961, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., became the first American in space. Later that year, two Soviet cosmonauts (astronauts) made the first orbital flights around Earth.
Glenn’s historic flight lasted 4 hours 55 minutes from launch to landing. Friendship 7 lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 9:47 a.m. (EST) on Feb. 20, 1962. Each of Glenn’s three orbits lasted about 11/2 hours. He traveled 80,966 statute miles (130,302 kilometers) at altitudes ranging from 98.9 to 162.5 miles (159.2 to 261.5 kilometers). Glenn was probably the first human being to “pilot” a spacecraft manually for any length of time.
Astronaut John H. Glenn, Jr., became the first American to orbit Earth. On Feb. 20, 1962, Glenn circled the planet three times in less than five hours. He made his historic flight in a spacecraft named Friendship 7. Glenn resigned from the astronaut program in 1964. NASA
After crossing the Atlantic Ocean, Glenn flew over Africa, the Indian Ocean, and Australia. Then the spacecraft sped over the Pacific Ocean, the West Coast of the United States, and back again over Florida. Eighteen radar stations around the world kept track of the spacecraft.
Upon his return to Earth, Glenn found himself a national hero, with huge parades staged in his honor. In New York City, Glenn was honored with one of that city’s famous ticker tape parades. Glenn eventually retired from the U.S. Marines, and in 1974, he was elected to the U.S. Senate from Ohio.
In 1998, when Glenn was 77, he returned to space aboard the space shuttle Discovery. On this mission, he became the oldest person ever to take part in space travel.
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