John Glenn \u2013 1st American in orbit \u2013 62 years ago today<\/h3>\n
John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth on February 20, 1962, 62 years ago today. In 4 hours and 55 minutes, he circled the globe three times in his space capsule Friendship 7<\/em>. The feat made Glenn a national hero and a household name.<\/p>\n It was the \u201960s, and the space race was on. The U.S. and the Soviet Union competed to achieve important firsts in space.<\/p>\n Glenn was one of the first American astronauts, a member of the group NASA called the Mercury 7. Author Tom Wolfe immortalized them in his masterly 1979 book The Right Stuff. Glenn and his fellow astronauts rode cramped Mercury space capsules into the unknown.<\/p>\n In those days, NASA astronauts gave personal nicknames to their space capsules. Glenn and his family decided on the word Friendship<\/em>, adding the number 7 to honor his fellow Mercury astronauts. But NASA\u2019s official name for Glenn\u2019s mission was Mercury-Atlas 6: Mercury<\/em> for the Roman god of speed and Atlas 6<\/em> to indicate that this was the sixth mission to launch atop the powerful\u00a0Atlas rocket.<\/p>\n EarthSky lunar calendars are back in stock! And we\u2019re guaranteed to sell out, so get one while you can. Your support means the world to us and allows us to keep going. Purchase here.<\/p>\n Atlas rocket and weather problems forced NASA to postpone Glenn\u2019s orbital launch four times. Finally, with the weather cooperating and the Atlas problems resolved, Glenn strapped into Friendship 7<\/em> early on the morning of February 20, 1962. Schoolchildren (including me) watched on television as the countdown ended and Glenn blasted into space. As History.com explained:<\/p>\n As mission control performed its final system checks, test conductor Tom O\u2019Malley initiated the launch sequence, adding a personal prayer, \u2018May the good Lord ride all the way,\u2019 to which Carpenter, the backup astronaut for the mission, added, \u2018Godspeed, John Glenn.\u2019 Carpenter later explained that he had come up with the phrase on the spot, but it did hold significance for most test pilots and astronauts: \u2018In those days, speed was magic \u2026 and nobody had gone that fast. If you can get that speed, you\u2019re home-free.\u2019<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In other words, to attain even a low Earth orbit, the challenge is to reach a fast-enough speed. The mean orbital velocity needed to maintain a stable low Earth orbit is about 17,000 miles per hour (27,000 kilometers per hour, or 7.8 kilometers per second). Glenn reached that speed, a first for any American.<\/p>\n Glenn wasn\u2019t the first American in space. He was third, after the short suborbital flights of Alan Shepard (May 1961) and Virgil \u201cGus\u201d Grissom (July 1961). And he wasn\u2019t the first earthling to orbit Earth. Again, he came in third, following two Russian cosmonauts: Yuri Gagarin (April 1961) and Gherman Titov (August 1961). Glenn\u2019s orbital flight meant that the U.S. was catching up to the Soviet Union in the space race.<\/p>\n John Glenn\u2019s flight wasn\u2019t without its scary moments. As History.com explained:<\/p>\n During his second orbit, Mission Control noticed a sensor was issuing a warning that Friendship 7<\/em>\u2019s heat shield and landing bag were not secure, putting the mission and Glenn in danger. Officials did not immediately inform Glenn of the potential problem, instead asking him to run a series of small tests on the system to see if that resolved the issue, which eventually clued Glenn in to their concerns. After a series of discussions, it was decided that rather than following standard procedures to discard the retrorocket (an engine designed to slow down the capsule upon reentry), Glenn would keep the rocket in place to help secure the heat shield.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n In fact, all was well. Glenn successfully reentered the Earth\u2019s atmosphere and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. Ships, helicopters and frogmen successfully recovered him 800 miles (1,300 km) southeast of Bermuda. Later, when engineers inspected the recovered capsule, they found that the heat shield was fine. A faulty sensor had detected a problem that didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n John Glenn\u2019s flight made him an instant national hero. He rode his fame to a long career in politics that included 25 years in the Senate and a presidential bid in 1984. Glenn returned to space at age 77 aboard the space shuttle Discovery<\/em> in 1998. His mission\u2019s primary scientific aim was to study the effects of spaceflight on seniors. Glenn passed away at age 95 on December 8, 2016.<\/p>\n The space race is history, but Glenn\u2019s flight 62 years ago continues to inspire. Shortly before his death, Hollywood commemorated his mission and the many people who made it possible in the popular 2016 film Hidden Figures.<\/p>\n Bottom line: John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth on February 20, 1962, 62 years ago today. His space capsule was the Friendship 7<\/em>.<\/p>\n Read more from NASA: Glenn orbits Earth<\/p>\n Read more from History.com: 7 things you may not know about John Glenn<\/p>\n <\/div>\n![\"Group](\"https:\/\/earthsky.org\/upl\/2017\/02\/mercury-7-astronauts-1960-e1582117017741.jpg\")
\u201cGodspeed, John Glenn\u201d<\/h3>\n
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Heat shield danger<\/h3>\n
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John Glenn was inspirational<\/h3>\n
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