60 years ago, the United States performed its first human orbiting spaceflight

The United States’ human spaceflight program received much-needed impetus 60 years ago. On February 20, 1962, NASA astronaut John Glenn was launched from the Florida Cape Canaveral into a small capsule called the Friend 7. The Mercury spacecraft orbited the Earth three times and collided near the Turks and Caicos Islands in four hours. Within 55 minutes of departure.

This is America’s first manned orbiting spacecraft, a milestone achieved 10 months ago by the Soviet Union’s Soviet rival Yuri Gagarin’s historic mission.

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The Soviet Union was the first country to launch a satellite into orbit (Sputnik 1, October 1957), the first to send an animal into orbit (Nai Laika, November 1957), and the first country orbiting mission to return to Earth (a zoo led by Belga and Strelka dogs in August 1960). .

It appeared that the Soviet Union was significantly more advanced than the United States in key areas of technological capability. Rockets that carry animals or humans into space are no different from missiles equipped with nuclear weapons. So Glenn’s five-hour journey was huge for NASA and the Americans.

The United States captured this moment and won the grand prize of space racing in July 1969 with the successful completion of the Apollo 11 lunar mission.

Glenn, one of NASA’s original Mercury 7 astronauts, retired from NASA in January 1964, but returned to public service a decade later, winning the 1974 U.S. Senate election in Ohio. He was re-elected in 1980, 1986 and 1992. Four words.

“He is considered one of the Senate’s foremost experts on technical and scientific issues and is widely regarded for his work in preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction,” NASA officials wrote in a profile. “He was proud to use his position on the Committee on Public Affairs to eliminate government waste and clean up the country’s nuclear power plants.”

The ancient astronaut ended up going back into orbit. In October 1998, at the age of 77, he spent nine days aboard the Discovery spacecraft, becoming the oldest person to fly to the final frontier. That feat lasted until July 2021, when aviator Wally Funk flew into sub-space on the Blue Origin’s New Shepherd spacecraft at the age of 82.

New Shepherd, incidentally, was named after Alan Shepherd, a colleague of Glenn’s Mercury 7, who became the first American to reach space in May 1961.

Glenn died on December 8, 2016 at the age of 95. His long, productive and inspiring biography left a great mark on autobiography and the American conscience. For example, NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio is named after the pioneer astronaut. Freedom 7 capsule Stephen F. at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Aerospace and Space Museum in Virginia. On display at the Udwar-Hasee Center.

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