dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (02/20/86)
Today's the anniversary of the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. More -- after this. February 20 Friendship Seven On today's date in the year l962 John Glenn became the first American astronaut to be launched into orbit around Earth. It was a proud moment for this nation when the Atlas rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral. Glenn orbited the Earth three times in his space capsule called Friendship Seven. The two previous astronauts -- Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom -- flew suborbital flights that each lasted for about fifteen minutes. Five hours after liftoff the Friendship Seven with Glenn aboard splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. There were tense moments as the spacecraft reentered the atmosphere. The heatshield on Friendship Seven was not properly locked down -- and some feared that the spacecraft would burn up on reentry. Glenn survived the landing -- and became the first astronaut to have orbited the Earth. The American success at orbiting an astronaut came ten months after the Soviet Union launched the first human into space. Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin made one orbit of Earth in April of l96l. Later that year in August a second Soviet cosmonaut spent slightly over a day traveling around the Earth seventeen times. After John Glenn returned from his three orbits of the Earth -- on this date in the year l962 -- he was greeted by parades and cheers from the American public. More flights would be made by the first astronauts -- firmly establishing that people could be placed in orbit and returned safely. Glenn's orbital mission was an important stepping stone on the way to the later Apollo flights -- when astronauts traveled to the moon. Script by Diana Hadley. (c) Copyright 1985, 1986 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin