50th Anniversary of First US Manned Orbital Flight

[sardak]

Today, February 20th, marks the 50th anniversary of the first US manned orbital spaceflight, with Marine Lt Col John Glenn on board. Americans Alan Shepard and Gus Grisssom were both launched into space before Glenn, but their flights were suborbital. Glenn orbited the Earth three times before his Mercury capsule Friendship 7 splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. Glenn returned to space on board the shuttle Discovery in 1998 at age 77. Scott Carpenter was on board the last Mercury launch, also orbital, on May 24, 1962.

Glenn's Mercury capsule was launched on a man-rated version of the Atlas D rocket. The D model had a 68% launch success rate prior to Glenn's flight, but the Mercury-Atlas series was at 60% when Glenn climbed into his capsule atop the rocket. A test launch of an ICBM version of the D model failed the day after Glenn's launch.

Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin was the first human into space and Earth orbit on April 12, 1961. Cosmonaut Gherman Titov was the second person to orbit the Earth but fourth into space, as his flight followed Grissom's and Shepard's.

Mike