John Glenn

John Glenn’s flight around the world thrilled the world. John Herschel Glenn Jr. was born in 1921 and in 1962 he traveled into space. John Glenn received doctoral degrees from nine different colleges including Muskingum College. After receiving numerous special honors and special training in various programs before, during and after World War II, Glenn joined NASA. He was assigned to the NASA Space Task Group in April 1959 and by the end of his work with NASA in 1998 he had logged 218 hours in space. However, Glenn’s first flight around the world was the one that he became famous for. On February 20, 1962, Glenn piloted the Mercury-Atlas 6 "Friendship 7" spacecraft into outer space. It was the first manned orbital mission launched from the United States in Kennedy Space Center, Florida. During Glenn’s mission he completed three orbits around the earth. In the four hours, fifty five minutes and twenty three seconds of Glenn’s mission, he reached a maximum altitude of 162 miles. Also, in those four hours, fifty five minutes and twenty three seconds, Glenn was able to raise the spirits of all Americans. Successfully traveling to space and orbiting the earth three times put the United States ahead in the “Space Race.” The United States were lagging behind the Soviet Union before the launch of Mercury Atlas 6 “Friendship 7” spacecraft. This mission acted not only as a scientific milestone but also as a political one. Across the United States, John Glenn was acknowledged as a hero. This change in status of the United States to the Soviet Union created a reality which greatly affected the reform the United States was under going into the 1960s.

Sources: Astronaut Bio: John Glenn Jr. 1/99. National Aeronautics and Space Administration. May 6, 2009. May 28, 2009. http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/glenn-j.html

John Glenn. The John and Annie Glenn Historic Site and Exploration Center. 2009. May 28, 2009. http://www.johnglennhome.org/john_glenn.shtml

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