A couple of days prior to launch, Glenn, right, sees as artist Cecilia “Cece” Bibby paints the name “Friendship 7” on his capsule. Credit: NASA
In February 1962, the space race between the United States and the Soviet Union was in full swing. Both nations had developed spacecraft to send out human beings into space and picked a group of pilots to fly those spacecraft. The Soviets leaped ahead by putting the very first man, Yuri A. Gagarin, in area on April 12, 1961, on a one-orbit flight around the Earth aboard his Vostok spaceship. The United States responded with two suborbital piloted Mercury missions, released atop Redstone rockets. The Soviets next kept a cosmonaut in area for a complete day. On February 20, 1962, astronaut John H. Glenn ended up being the very first American to orbit the Earth throughout the three-orbit Mercury-Atlas 6 mission, aboard the spacecraft he called Friendship 7.
On November 29, 1961, Gilruth, by then the director of the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), now NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston, revealed the selection of astronaut John H. Glenn to fly the very first orbital mission, with M. Scott Carpenter as his backup. Following months of training and preparations of the spacecraft and its Atlas launch automobile, Glenn wore his spacesuit and boarded Friendship 7 for a launch effort on January 27, 1962. Glenn and Friendship 7 were reunited at the event at Hangar S, where President Kennedy had a possibility to peer into the recently-returned spacecraft.
A full-size reproduction of Friendship 7 is on screen at the entryway to Jags McCartney International Airport on Grand Turk Island, where authorities renamed the primary entryway road John Glenn Drive.
Relationship 7 astronaut John H. Glenn, left, leaving crew quarters with flight cosmetic surgeon Dr. William K. Douglas and fit professional Joseph W. “Joe” Schmitt. Credit: NASA
On November 29, 1961, Gilruth, already the director of the Manned Spacecraft Center (MSC), now NASAs Johnson Space Center in Houston, announced the selection of astronaut John H. Glenn to fly the very first orbital mission, with M. Scott Carpenter as his backup. Following months of training and preparations of the spacecraft and its Atlas launch automobile, Glenn wore his spacesuit and boarded Friendship 7 for a launch effort on January 27, 1962. The launch director stopped the countdown at T-minus 13 minutes due to thick clouds that would have avoided observation of the rockets climb. Authorities rescheduled the launch, and mechanical and weather condition hold-ups added further postponements. On February 20, after a steak-and-eggs breakfast, Glenn fit up as soon as again in Hangar S, a facility rented by MSCs Cape Operations from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, todays Cape Canaveral Space Force Station. He boarded a transfer van that took him on the four-mile, 11-minute trip to Launch Complex 14.
At Launch Pad 14, astronaut John H. Glenn squeezes into the Friendship 7 pill. Credit: NASA
Assisted by the pad team led by Guenter F. Wendt, Glenn squeezed into the cramped capsule. They strapped him in and bolted the hatch cover in place. After a number of delays, resulting in Glenn costs nearly 4 hours in the capsule, the countdown finally reached absolutely no at 9:47 a.m. EST and the Atlas rockets 3 main engines fired up. Four seconds later, the rocket rose from the launch pad on a pillar of fire. 2 minutes and 9 seconds later, the rockets 2 booster engines cut off as planned and were jettisoned, the Atlas advancing the power of the single, center-mounted sustainer engine. At 5 minutes, one second into the flight, the sustainer engine cut-off and Friendship 7 apart two seconds later on. Glenn was in orbit!
Liftoff of Friendship 7 with Glenn aboard atop an Atlas rocket from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, now Cape Canaveral Space Force Station, in Florida. Credit: NASA
A group of engineers kept track of the countdown and the launch from the Mercury Control Center (MCC) located in Building 1385 at Cape Canaveral, led by Flight Director Christopher C. Kraft, who also served as chief of MSCs Flight Operations. Carpenter functioned as capsule communicator, or capcom, the a single person in MCC who interacted with the astronaut in orbit. A worldwide network of tracking stations located along the spacecrafts ground track supported the team in the MCC.
An automatic video camera inside Friendship 7 records astronaut John H. Glenn during his orbital flight. Credit: NASA
Quickly after separating from the booster, Friendship 7 turned around, flying with its heatshield in the direction of flight. Watching out his window, Glenn observed the state of Florida, and photographed it with his Ansco Autoset cam. He tracked the booster for 8 minutes as it gradually toppled out of sight. He reported feeling fine in weightlessness, and inspecting his spacecrafts systems reported that all were working as expected. During his first orbit, as he flew over the succeeding ground sites, Glenn continued reporting on his and the spacecrafts condition, successfully managing the pills attitude. He observed his very first orbital sundown over the Indian Ocean and daybreak over the Pacific Ocean, including the phenomenon of the “fireflies,” ice particles taking a trip with his spaceship illuminated by the increasing Sun. He ate his only food during the mission, a tube of apple sauce, and took a xylitol pill as part of an experiment examining food digestion during spaceflight. With all systems operating well, through the tracking station in Guaymas, Mexico, MCC provided Glenn a “go” for his 2nd orbit. When his spacecraft began wandering out of its normal mindset, Glenn quickly steered it back to its appropriate orientation.
Glenn took this photo of Florida soon after launch. Credit: NASA
As he passed over Cape Canaveral at the start of his 2nd orbit, controllers discovered a signal showing that the spacecrafts landing bag, utilized to cushion the effect at splashdown, had actually released, meaning that the heat shield needed for reentry was no longer in place. Engineers presumed the signal to be incorrect, they came up with the strategy to keep the retrorocket pack on after retrofire, hoping the straps would be strong enough to keep the heatshield in location had the landing bag in fact been deployed. Although not informed explicitly about the issue, Glenn was encouraged by all ground stations to make sure the landing-bag deploy switch remained in the “off” position. Otherwise, Glenns 2nd orbit around the Earth passed uneventfully, with the astronaut conducting experiments and photographing the planet as it sped by below him. As he passed over Hawaii, he got the “go” to continue to his 3rd and last orbit. Controllers advised Glenn to put the landing-bag switch in the automatic position, and ought to a light come on, to keep the retropack in place after retrofire. Having now deduced what the issue was, Glenn reported he heard no bumping sounds during mindset maneuvers that would show a deployed landing bag. Nearing the California shoreline, the spacecraft fired its 3 retrorockets to slow its velocity, with Glenn reporting, “Boy, feels like Im going midway back to Hawaii!” Engineers carefully monitored Friendship 7s reentry into the Earths atmosphere. The temporary radio blackout triggered by the accumulation of ionized gases around the spacecraft as it sped through the upper layers of the atmosphere took place as planned, lasting 4 minutes, 20 seconds. Glenn described the reentry as “a genuine fireball outside,” as pieces of the retropack burnt and gone by his window. He by hand managed the spacecrafts attitude throughout the entry, eventually tiring his fuel supply. The drogue parachute deployed early at 28,000 feet to support the spacecraft and slow, followed by the main 63-foot red and white primary parachute at 10,800 feet.
Relationship 7, with astronaut John H. Glenn within, a few minutes after splashdown. Credit: NASA
Friendship 7 sprinkled down at 2:43 p.m. EST about 800 miles southeast of Cape Canaveral in the vicinity of Grand Turk Island in the Turks and Caicos Islands, after a flight enduring 4 hours, 55 minutes, and 23 seconds. The U.S. Navy designated the airplane carrier U.S.S. Randolph (CVS-15) as the prime healing ship, but since Friendship 7 landed 41 miles west and 19 miles north of the prepared splashdown target, the closest vessel, the destroyer U.S.S. Noa (DD-841), completed the retrieval from the water. Sailors aboard Noa spotted Friendship 7 descending on its parachute from an elevation of 5,000 feet and at a range of about six miles. The Noa pulled up along with the capsule, preserving radio contact with Glenn throughout the recovery operation that took 21 minutes from splashdown to placing the capsule on the ships side deck. Sitting in the hot pill, Glenn blew the side hatch, choosing that path of egress over the more hard overhead hatch. After his egress, a group of physicians accompanied Glenn to the ships sick bay where he eliminated his spacesuit, took a much-needed shower, and underwent a short medical examination that revealed him to be slightly dehydrated however otherwise in exceptional physical condition. He ate his first food, aside from the infight tube of applesauce, given that breakfast early that early morning. Wearing flight overalls, Glenn returned to examine his spacecraft and waited for a helicopter to fly him to the Randolph.
Astronaut John H. Glenn unwinds aboard the U.S.S. Noa awaiting his helicopter flight to the U.S.S. Randolph. Credit: NASA
The helicopter from the Randolph hovered over the Noas deck and raised Glenn aboard. The helicopter provided Glenn to the provider where he got a more extensive health examination by a team of Navy physicians, who likewise stated him healthy and fit. Glenn was then flown to Grand Turk Island, getting here there about five hours after splashdown. After another medical examination, Glenn lastly went to sleep, more than 23 hours after awakening that morning for his historical day.
Astronaut John H. Glenn being raised onto a helicopter for the brief flight from the U.S.S. Noa to the prime healing ship, the airplane carrier U.S.S. Randolph. Credit: NASA
Glenn spent the next two days on Grand Turk Island, undergoing more extensive medical assessments by the same team of physicians who examined him before flight. In the predawn hours of February 23, Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson got here to select up Glenn for the flight back to the United States. In spite of the early hour, a large part of the local population turned out to see Johnson and Glenn.
Astronaut John H. Glenn, center, being invited aboard the U.S.S. Randolph. Credit: NASA
Glenn now rode in the Presidential limousine to Hangar S, where President Kennedy provided him with the NASA Distinguished Service Medal. They then checked out the MCC, where Flight Director Kraft and astronaut Shepard provided a tour, and LC-14, where Glenn provided the President with a difficult hat worn by the launch pad workers.
Friendship 7 astronaut John H. Glenn, right, trips in a motorcade through Cocoa Beach, Florida, with his partner Annie and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. Credit: NASA
The Friendship 7 pill likewise returned to Cape Canaveral. Glenn and Friendship 7 were reunited at the event at Hangar S, where President Kennedy had a chance to peer into the recently-returned spacecraft.
President John F. Kennedy peers inside Friendship 7 as astronaut John H. Glenn searches. Credit: NASA
On February 26, Glenn and his household took a trip to Washington, D.C., where they attended a reception at the White House hosted by President Kennedy. Despite the rain, thousands ended up to see them as they rode in a motorcade with Vice President Johnson to the U.S. Capitol, where Glenn addressed a Joint Session of Congress. Later on in the day, they participated in a supper in their honor at the State Department, where dessert included Mercury ice cream.
Relationship 7 astronaut John H. Glenn, accompanied by his wife Annie and Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson, during the ticker tape parade in New York City. Credit: NASA
On March 1, accompanied by Vice President Johnson, the Glenns took part in a parade in New York City, where cops approximated four million people turned out to see them, tossing a record amount of ticker tape. Glenn offered a speech at City Hall, went to a number of receptions, and got several awards consisting of the City of New York Medal of Honor.
3 months after its Earth orbital flight, the Friendship 7 capsule started its next objective, popularly referred to as its “fourth-orbit tour.” The U.S. Information Agency and NASA arranged a three-month round-the-world trip that took it to more than 20 nations, consisting of all that hosted a NASA tracking station. An estimated four million people saw it personally and 20 million more on regional tv programs. A U.S. Air Force C-130 freight plane emblazoned with the words “Around the world with Friendship 7” transferred the spacecraft to the different areas, starting in Hamilton, Bermuda, on April 20, 1962, through Latin America, Europe, Africa, Asia, and Australia. Following its fourth-orbit tour, on August 6, 1962, the popular spacecraft went on temporary display screen in the NASA show hall at the Century 21 Exposition, likewise called the Worlds Fair, in Seattle.
The Friendship 7 spacecraft is currently on display at the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Institutions National Air and Space Museum (NASM) in Chantilly, Virginia. Credit: Courtesy of NASM
On February 23, 1963, NASA officially turned the spacecraft, along with Glenns spacesuit and other artifacts, over to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., where it has resided since. It is currently on screen at the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonians National Air and Space Museum in Chantilly, Virginia. As far as Cape Canaverals MCC, although the building real estate it was destroyed in 2010, the control room was removed, transferred, and fastidiously restored, and is on display in the Kurt Debus Conference Center at the Visitors Center at NASAs Kennedy Space Center in Florida. A full-size reproduction of Friendship 7 is on display at the entryway to Jags McCartney International Airport on Grand Turk Island, where authorities relabelled the primary entryway roadway John Glenn Drive.
Enjoy a video of the Friendship 7 mission. (Produced 10 years ago for the 50th anniversary.
The Space Task Group at NASAs Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, under the instructions of Robert R. Gilruth, started the task in October 1958 with three objectives: orbiting a manned spacecraft, examining mans ability to function in space, and securely recovering both spacecraft and team member. Astronaut Alan B. Shepard completed the first American spaceflight on May 5, 1961, a 15-minute suborbital objective aboard his Freedom 7 pill. Virgil I. “Gus” Grissom flew a similar mission on July 21 aboard Liberty Bell 7.
On February 20, 1962, astronaut John H. Glenn ended up being the very first American to orbit the Earth throughout the three-orbit Mercury-Atlas 6 mission, aboard the spacecraft he named Friendship 7.