John Glenn and Friendship 7 Mercury
February 20, 1962 John Glenn boarded the Friendship 7 and was launched into space. The mission objective was to place a man into orbit around the earth and observe his reactions to the space environment. Afterward return him safely to earth at a point where he could be readily found. The flight plan was to maintain optimum spacecraft altitude for radar tracking and communication checks. The mission was successful making John Glenn the first American to orbit the earth. He was weightless for approximately 4 hours 48 minutes and 27 seconds.