John Glenn
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‘Huffing and Puffing’: How Does Flying a Falcon 9 Compare to the Rest? (Part 1)
Last month, America observed 59 years since Alan Shepard became the nation’s first man in space. Tucked inside his tiny Freedom 7 Mercury capsule on the morning of 5 May 1961, Shepard launched atop a converted U.S. Army Redstone missile for a suborbital “hop” which pushed him to a peak altitude of 116 miles (188 […] More
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in Space, Alan Shepard, Redstone‘Light This Candle’: Remembering America’s First Astronaut, OTD in 1961
“A damn fine month,” actor Morgan Freeman’s character Ellis “Red” Redding remarked in the movie Shawshank Redemption and, indeed, for America’s space program, the month of May—newly dawned—has long been a historic one for off-the-planet U.S. achievements. Fifty-nine years ago today, on 5 May 1961, the nation saw Alan Shepard become the first American to […] More
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“What a Beautiful View”: Remembering America’s First Man in Space, OTD in 1961
In the half-hour between 9:30 and 10 a.m. EDT on this day in 1961, the United States came literally to a standstill. A Philadelphia appeals court judge interrupted all proceedings to make an announcement; free champagne flowed in taverns; traffic slowed on California freeways; and people danced and sang in Times Square. Even the new […] More
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in SpaceSixty Years On, America Remembers the Achievements, Sacrifice of the Mercury Seven
Best known as the residence of the fourth First Lady of the United States, on this day in 1959 the Dolley Madison House, opposite Lafayette Park in downtown Washington, D.C., provided the setting for the introduction of the United States’ first group of astronauts: the long-awaited “Mercury Seven”. Sixty years later, the names of Scott […] More
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‘Zero-G, And I Feel Fine’: 20 Years Since John Glenn’s Return to Space
Twenty years have now passed since John Glenn—who had found fame as the first American to orbit the Earth—became the oldest human being ever to break the shackles of the Home Planet and venture into space. Aged 77 at the time of his flight in October 1998, Glenn was more than a decade older than […] More
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in NASA, Discovery, John Glenn, space shuttle‘As Exciting As It Gets’: Remembering John Glenn’s Return to Space
Nineteen years ago, today, John Glenn—who had found fame as the first American to orbit the Earth—became the oldest human being ever to break the shackles of the Home Planet and venture into space. Aged 77 at the time of his flight in October 1998, Glenn was more than a decade older than the next-oldest […] More
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In Dire Peril: 55 Years Since the Troubled Mission of Aurora 7 (Part 2)
Fifty-five years ago, this week, Scott Carpenter became America’s second man in orbit. Aboard Mercury-Atlas (MA)-7—a spacecraft which he had dubbed “Aurora 7”—the astronaut was tasked with the most comprehensive program of scientific research yet seen on a piloted mission: astronomical observations, visibility and flying evaluations and medical checks. Sadly, as outlined in yesterday’s AmericaSpace […] More
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Dawn of a New Age: 55 Years Since the Troubled Mission of Aurora 7 (Part 1)
Fifty-five years ago, this week, America launched its second man into orbit around the Earth. That man should have been Deke Slayton, but a heart murmur had left him grounded, not in favor of his backup, Wally Schirra, but in favor of John Glenn’s backup, Scott Carpenter. The theory was that the second orbital voyage […] More
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in NASA, Space, Kennedy Space Center, United Launch Alliance, Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, International Space Station, Atlas V, USA, ULA, Space Coast, Launch, CYGNUS, Orbital ATK‘Godspeed, John Glenn’: Cygnus Soars Atop Atlas-V on Voyage to Space Station
Despite being the “barebones” member of the fleet, the pencil-like Atlas V 401 today cemented its credentials as the most-flown vehicle in United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Atlas V inventory. With the spectacular launch of Orbital ATK’s OA-7 Cygnus cargo mission to the International Space Station (ISS), the “401”—so named because it carries a 13-foot-diameter (4-meter) […] More
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John Glenn to Return to Space ‘In Spirit’ on ISS-Bound OA-7 Cygnus Cargo Mission
Denied a second spaceflight by then-President John F. Kennedy, reportedly on account of his value to the nation as America’s first man to orbit the Earth, Astronaut John Glenn will launch on his third mission on Tuesday, 18 April, aboard a modern incarnation of his old Atlas rocket. His space-time tally—which currently consists of a five-hour […] More
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‘Change in Velocity’: Remembering Deke Slayton’s Unrealized Mercury Mission (Part 1)
Fifty-five years ago, America was a nation in euphoria. Astronaut John Glenn returned triumphantly to Earth on 20 February 1962, after orbiting Earth three times in his Mercury capsule—named “Friendship 7”—and further flights were on the horizon. In April 1962, fellow astronaut Donald “Deke” Slayton would repeat Glenn’s accomplishment, spending almost five hours in space. […] More
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in NASA, Space, John Glenn, Mercury Program‘Just a Normal Day’: Remembering John Glenn’s Mercury Flight (Part 2)
On the afternoon of 20 February 1962, millions of Americans listened and watched, transfixed as their countryman, John Glenn, plummeted back to Earth after completing three orbits of Earth. As detailed in yesterday’s AmericaSpace history article, it was a triumphant mission, but was also laced with drama, for worrisome indications had arisen that the heat […] More
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