When John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth on this day in 1962, it was aboard Mercury Friendship 7, now on display in Boeing Milestones of Flight Hall at the Museum in DC. | National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution

On February 20, 1962, NASA launched an astronaut into orbit around the Earth for the first time. Space History Archives👉 https://space-com.visitlink.me/96nP4O John Glenn was the third American to launch into space and the third human to orbit Earth. Two Soviet cosmonauts had orbited Earth before him. He blasted off from Cape Canaveral in a Mercury spacecraft named Friendship 7 and circled the Earth three times. The mission lasted close to five hours. After a bumpy reentry, Friendship 7 splashed