Mercury-Atlas 6

Mercury-Atlas 6
Still frame of John Glenn in orbit, taken by
a motion picture camera inside Friendship 7
Mission typeTest flight
OperatorNASA
Harvard designation1962 Gamma 1
COSPAR ID1962-003A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.240
Mission duration4 hours, 55 minutes, 23 seconds[1]
Distance travelled65,763 nautical miles (121,793 km)
Orbits completed3
Spacecraft properties
SpacecraftMercury No.13
ManufacturerMcDonnell Aircraft
Launch mass2,981 pounds (1,352 kg)[2]
Crew
Crew size1
MembersJohn H. Glenn, Jr
CallsignFriendship 7
Start of mission
Launch dateFebruary 20, 1962, 14:47:39 (1962-02-20UTC14:47:39Z) UTC
RocketAtlas LV-3B 109-D
Launch siteCape Canaveral LC-14
End of mission
Recovered byUSS Noa
Landing dateFebruary 20, 1962, 19:43:02 (1962-02-20UTC19:43:03Z) UTC
Landing siteNorth Atlantic Ocean
21°20′N 68°40′W / 21.333°N 68.667°W / 21.333; -68.667
Orbital parameters
Reference systemGeocentric
RegimeLow Earth orbit
Perigee altitude80 nautical miles (150 km)
Apogee altitude134 nautical miles (248 km)
Inclination32.5 degrees
Period88.47 minutes
EpochFebruary 20, 1962[3]
Project Mercury
Crewed missions

Mercury-Atlas 6 (MA-6) was the first crewed American orbital spaceflight, which took place on February 20, 1962.[4] Piloted by astronaut John Glenn and operated by NASA as part of Project Mercury, it was the fifth human spaceflight, preceded by Soviet orbital flights Vostok 1 and 2 and American sub-orbital flights Mercury-Redstone 3 and 4.[5]

The Mercury spacecraft, named Friendship 7, was carried to orbit by an Atlas LV-3B launch vehicle lifting off from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral, Florida. After three orbits, the spacecraft re-entered the Earth's atmosphere, splashed down in the North Atlantic Ocean, and was safely taken aboard USS Noa. The total mission flight time was 4 hours 55 minutes and 23 seconds.

  1. ^ "Mercury-Atlas 6". NASA. November 20, 2006. Retrieved November 15, 2018.
  2. ^ "Mercury Atlas 6 NSSDCA/COSPAR ID: 1962-003A". NASA.
  3. ^ McDowell, Jonathan. "SATCAT". Jonathan's Space Pages. Retrieved March 23, 2014.
  4. ^ "Mercury-Atlas 6 Press Conference (1962)". Texas Archive of the Moving Image. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
  5. ^ Swenson, Loyd S. Jr.; Grimwood, James M.; Alexander, Charles C. (1989). "13-4 An American in Orbit". In Woods, David; Gamble, Chris (eds.). This New Ocean: A History of Project Mercury. NASA. SP-4201. Archived from the original on April 5, 2023. Retrieved July 14, 2009.