Operation AXIOM: The Space Race—The 60th Anniversary of Mercury-Atlas 6
20 February 1962: Aboard the Mercury capsule
Friendship 7, John Glenn (1921-2016), U.S.M.C., became the third American in space &, famously, the first American to orbit the Earth, completing three orbits; a warning light before re-entry was later found to be the result of a faulty sensor; after splashdown & recovery, Glenn embarked on a global publicity tour nicknamed the "Fourth Orbit."
Wayback Machine: № DCCXXXIII, "The Space Race—The 58th Anniversary of Mercury-Atlas 6"Commentary: Glenn's orbital flight aboard the Friendship 7
, after Alan Shepard's & Gus Grissom's suborbital flights in 1961, was a huge step in the United States catching up to (& eventually overtaking) the Soviet Union in the Space Race, which had already flown two orbital missions: Yuri Gagarin & Gherman Titov aboard Vostoks 1
& 2
. After Mercury-Atlas 6, Glenn eclipsed Shepard, the first American in space, as a national hero & was so famous that he was not permitted the opportunity to fly again in the follow-on Gemini & Apollo programs.
Semper exploro.
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