John Glenn became the fifth person in space, the third American in space and the
first American to orbit the Earth, aboard Friendship 7 on Tuesday,February 20, 1962,
on the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission, circling the globe three times during a flight lasting 4 hours, 55 minutes, and 23 seconds.

At left is John Glenn with Scott Carpenter. The two men are the lone survivors of the original Mercury 7 astronauts. They joined the remaining veterans of NASA’s Project
Mercury team on Saturday at Kennedy Space Center in celebrating Glenn’s 50th
anniversary of his historic orbital flight.