America Celebrates the 48th Anniversary of it's first obrital flight by Astronaut John Glenn.
In April 1959, John Glenn was assigned to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) as one of the original group of Mercury astronauts for the Mercury Project.
During this time, he remained an officer in the Marine Corps. He became the fifth person in space and the first American to orbit the Earth, aboard Friendship 7 on 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.
During the mission there was concern that his heat shield had failed and that his craft would burn up on re-entry, but he made his splashdown safely. Glenn was celebrated as a national hero, and received a ticker-tape parade reminiscent of Charles Lindbergh.
