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Glenn retired from the Marine Corps in 1965 as a colonel.
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The shield was fine, but the experience was surely harrowing. Follow-up examination of the control system revealed that the indicator had been incorrect. To help protect him on his return to Earth, Glenn kept the retrorocket pack, which was designed to be jettisoned, in place. Sensors also indicated that the heat shield, which would protect the astronaut from the lethal temperatures created upon re-entry to the atmosphere, was loose.
#First man to orbit the earth manual
After the first orbit, a mechanical problem with the automatic control system required Glenn take manual control of the craft. When Glenn blasted into space aboard Mercury's Friendship 7 capsule, he orbited Earth three times over the course of almost five hours, traveling faster than 17,000 mph. Previous flights into space by Shepard and Grissom had not traveled all the way around the planet. 20, 1962, the United States showed that it had the same mettle as its competition.
#First man to orbit the earth full
Gagarin's craft took him in a full orbit around Earth, making him the first person to circle the planet, as well. Russian astronaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man launched into space on April 12, 1961, beating Alan Shepard by less than a month. Īt the time, the United States was in the midst of a race with the Soviet Union to reach the stars. Glenn served as backup astronaut to the first two Americans in space, Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Grissom. He became part of the Mercury Seven group, the first astronauts selected by NASA. In April 1959, Glenn was selected as a Project Mercury astronaut. Glenn was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross six times, as well as a number of other honors for his military service. His was the first cross-country flight to average supersonic speed. In July 1957, Glenn set a transcontinental speed record, flying from Los Angeles to New York in 3 hours 23 minutes. He attended classes at the University of Maryland for two and a half years while assigned to the Fighter Design Branch of the Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, the precursor to the Bureau of Naval Weapons. From there, Glenn attended Test Pilot School at the Naval Air Test Center in Maryland, then went on to serve as project officer on a number of aircraft.