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John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, astronaut, businessman, and politician.He was the third American in space and the first American to orbit the Earth, circling it three times in 1962. [3]
Mercury-Atlas 6 (MA-6) was the first crewed American orbital spaceflight, which took place on February 20, 1962. [4] Piloted by astronaut John Glenn and operated by NASA as part of Project Mercury, it was the fifth human spaceflight, preceded by Soviet orbital flights Vostok 1 and 2 and American sub-orbital flights Mercury-Redstone 3 and 4.
John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth on Mercury-Atlas 6 February 20, 1962. During the flight, the spacecraft Friendship 7 experienced issues with its automatic control system but Glenn was able to manually control the spacecraft's attitude. He quit NASA in 1964, when he came to the conclusion that he likely would not be ...
First crewed spaceflight. Reached Low Earth Orbit (LEO), flew around the Earth one time. 2 Alan Shepard (1) 5 May 1961 Mercury-Redstone 3 : First American crewed spaceflight. Did not reach Earth orbit, maximum altitude: 187 km (116 miles). [1] [2] 3 Gus Grissom (1) 21 July 1961 Mercury-Redstone 4 (Liberty Bell 7) Second American crewed spaceflight.
The first American in orbit in 1962, Glenn flew on the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998 to become, at age 77, the oldest person to fly in space at the time. He was the oldest member of the Mercury Seven, and the last living member of the group when he died in 2016 at age 95.
Far and away, the most successful astro-politico to date was Ohio Democrat John Glenn, who became the first American to orbit the Earth before serving four terms in the U.S. Senate.
On April 12, 1961, Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person in space, and the first to orbit the Earth. [70] It was another body blow to American pride. [67] When Shepard heard the news he slammed his fist down on a table so hard a NASA public relations officer feared he might have broken his hand. [71]
John Glenn’s 1962 flight making him the first American to orbit the Earth persuaded Collins to apply to NASA. He was accepted on his second try, in 1963, as part of the third group of astronauts ...