John Glenn

 

On February 20, 1962, fifty years ago tomorrow, John Glenn became the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth when he flew aboard a space capsule named Friendship 7.

Now, 50 years later, we look back at that moment with admiration at what roads that mission was able to pave for our nation.

Glenn  manned the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission, which was the sixth mission in the Mercury-Atlas set of missions.

He knew what was at stake, and although the previous mission saw Enos the Chimp land successfully back on Earth, two of the previous runs by NASA were met with failures.

The first mission, MA-1, only flew 6 miles above Earth before its Atlas rocket suffered a structural failure 58 seconds after launch.

The third mission in the Mercury-Atlas program only lasted 43.3 seconds after launch once the range safety officer terminated the mission when the vehicle failed to follow its roll and pitch programs.

The MA-3 mission is still considered crucial in that NASA was able to see that its launch escape system proved to be successful. They were able to save the Mercury spacecraft from destruction.

Although Enos the chimp had made a successful flight, Glenn still faced growing anticipation and worry as postponements began in January 1962 because of problems with the Atlas rocket fuel tanks.

Glenn’s  circling our globe would have been January 27 if it had not been for inclement weather, postponing the launch until February 1.

More problems with Atlas fuel tanks were found, this time a leak soaked an internal insulation blanket, causing a two week delay.

Finally, on February 20, Glenn took his journey around the world. Locked away in the Friendship 7 spacecraft, he was strapped to an Atlas rocket, getting ready to be one of the first few humans to ever see the Earth from a new vantage point.

As the rocket took-off towards the night sky, Glenn’s heart climbed up to 110 beats per minute, with him radioing back to NASA “It’s a little bumpy about here.”

The Friendship 7 spacecraft crossed the Atlantic, passed over the African coastline, and later over Kano, during which he said he could see a dust storm.

Upon his second orbit, ground controllers were worried about a loose heat shield on the spacecraft, but later found that it was just a faulty “Segment 51″ warning light.

In just under five hours, Glenn saw the sun set three times, and rise three times, completing NASA’s first manned orbit around Earth.

Now, 50 years later, astronauts live in space aboard the International Space Station, orbiting the Earth every 91 minutes for the past 4,127 days.  With the end of the STS shuttle program, we now depend on Russian spacecraft to get them there and back.

A human orbiting the Earth may have lost some of its flare over the past 50 years, but  by no means should we take what Glenn did lightly.

Given the history of the Mercury-Atlas missions, Glenn had a two out of five shot things were not going to work out, yet he still courageously stepped into the Friendship 7 spacecraft.

His achievement had a direct affect on all of the accomplishments NASA and its international partners have made over the past 50 years.

Enos the chimp, who flew in Mercury-Atlas 5 in November of 1961, died less than a year later – November 4, 1962 -  without ever becoming a Senator.