Mercury-Atlas 6

Mercury-Atlas 6

Still frame of John Glenn in orbit, taken by a motion picture camera inside Friendship 7
Mission type	Test flight
Operator	NASA
Harvard designation	1962 Gamma 1
COSPAR ID	1962-003A
SATCAT no.	240
Mission duration	4 hours, 55 minutes, 23 seconds[1]
Distance travelled	65,763 nautical miles (121,793 km)
Orbits completed	3
Spacecraft properties
Spacecraft	Mercury No.13
Manufacturer	McDonnell Aircraft
Launch mass	2,981 pounds (1,352 kg)[2]
Crew
Crew size	1
Members	John H. Glenn, Jr
Callsign	Friendship 7
Start of mission
Launch date	February 20, 1962, 14:47:39 (1962-02-20UTC14:47:39Z) UTC
Rocket	Atlas LV-3B 109-D
Launch site	Cape Canaveral LC-14
End of mission
Recovered by	USS Noa
Landing date	February 20, 1962, 19:43:02 (1962-02-20UTC19:43:03Z) UTC
Landing site	North Atlantic Ocean 21°20′N 68°40′W / 21.333°N 68.667°W / 21.333; -68.667
Orbital parameters
Reference system	Geocentric
Regime	Low Earth orbit
Perigee altitude	80 nautical miles (150 km)
Apogee altitude	134 nautical miles (248 km)
Inclination	32.5 degrees
Period	88.47 minutes
Epoch	February 20, 1962[3]
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. Project Mercury Crewed missions ← Mercury-Redstone 4 Mercury-Atlas 7 →

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.