John Herschel Glenn Jr., who was born on July 18, 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio, became the first American to orbit the Earth when he was sent into space on February 20, 1962. Aboard the NASA space capsule Friendship 7 (Mercury spacecraft #13), Glenn was powered into orbit around the Earth by an Atlas 6 (Atlas # 109-D) rocket.

Glenn was launched from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida, at 9:47:39 EST (eastern standard time)—or 14:47:39 UTC (coordinated universal time). Glenn spent 4 hours, 55 minutes, and 23 seconds—3 complete orbits—traveling around the Earth at a perigee (closest distance to the Earth) of about 159 kilometers (99 miles) and an apogee (furthest) of approximately 265 kilometers (165 miles).

During his historic journey into space, Glenn traveled about 121,794 kilometers (75,679 miles) at a maximum velocity of 28,234 kilometers per hour (17,544 miles per hour). On his experience onboard Friendship 7, Glenn says, "I feel very, very lucky to have been at the right place at the right time."

Forty-five years later while speaking to a group of high school students at the COSI (Center Of Science and Industry) Columbus Science Center (Columbus, Ohio), Glenn stated that using money to send astronauts back to the Moon and eventually to Mars, while cutting back on scientific experiments on the International Space Station (ISS), underutilizes the purpose of the space station.

While supporting the future NASA ventures to send astronauts to the Moon and Mars, Glenn does not support diverting money away from scientific activities of the space station. The construction of the ISS is expected to be finished by 2010. However, current plans are to end its functional operations in 2016 unless additional funding is approved. Under these circumstances, Glenn states, “We will not even begin to realize its potential.”

A biography of John Glenn can be found at The John and Annie Glenn Historic Site and Exploration Center: http://www.johnglennhome.org/john_glenn.shtml.

The home Web page of COSI Columbus is: http://www.cosi.org/about/.

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