The United States’ human spaceflight program got a much-needed shot in the arm 60 years ago today.
On Feb. 20, 1962, NASA astronaut John Glenn launched from Florida’s Cape Canaveral inside a tiny capsule named Friendship 7. The Mercury spacecraft circled Earth three times, ultimately splashing down near the Turks and Caicos Islands four hours and 55 minutes after liftoff.
It was the United States’ first-ever crewed orbital spaceflight — a milestone that the nation’s Cold War rival, the Soviet Union, had notched 10 months earlier, with the landmark mission of Yuri Gagarin.
The Friendship 7 capsule carrying NASA astronaut John Glenn launches on the United States’ first crewed orbital spaceflight on Feb. 20, 1962. (Image credit: NASA)
The U.S. played catch-up quite a bit during the early days of the Cold War space race. For example, the Soviet Union was the first country to launch a satellite to orbit (Sputnik 1, in October 1957), the first to send an animal to orbit (Laika the dog, in November 1957) and the first to return living creatures to Earth from an orbital mission (a menagerie headlined by the dogs Belka and Strelka, in August 1960; Laika did not survive her flight).
And then there was Gagarin’s epic mission. On April 12, 1961, the cosmonaut became the first person to reach space and also the first to orbit Earth, dealing another blow to the psyche of American policymakers, national security officials and the public at large.
The jolt went beyond mere embarrassment, for the Soviet Union seemed to be significantly ahead of the U.S. in a key area of technological capability. Rockets carrying animals or people to space aren’t so different from missiles outfitted with nuclear warheads.
So Glenn’s 5-hour jaunt off the planet was huge for NASA and the nation.
“His flight on Friendship 7 on Feb. 20, 1962, showed the world that America was a serious contender in the space race with the Soviet Union,” NASA officials wrote in a profile of Glenn a few years ago. “It also made Glenn an instant hero.”
The U.S. built on that momentum, ultimately winning the space race’s grand prize with the successful completion of the Apollo 11 moon mission in July 1969.
And Glenn, one of NASA’s original Mercury 7 astronauts, didn’t exactly fade into obscurity after the hoopla surrounding his landmark flight died down. He retired from NASA in January 1964 but returned to public service a decade later, winning election to the U.S. Senate from Ohio in 1974. He won re-election in 1980, 1986 and 1992, serving a total of four terms in the body.
“He was considered one of the Senate’s leading experts on technical and scientific matters, and won wide respect for his work to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction,” NASA officials wrote in the profile. “He took pride in using his position on the Governmental Affairs Committee to root out waste in government and to clean up the nation’s nuclear materials production plants.”
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And Glenn ended up going to orbit again. In October 1998, at the age of 77, he spent nine days aboard the space shuttle Discovery, becoming the oldest person ever to travel to the final frontier. That record stood until July 2021, when aviation pioneer Wally Funk went to suborbital space aboard Blue Origin‘s New Shepard spacecraft at the age of 82. “Star Trek” actor William Shatner then wrested the title from Funk just three months later, flying on a New Shepard mission at 90.
New Shepard, by the way, is named after Glenn’s Mercury 7 colleague Alan Shepard, who in May 1961 became the first American to reach space. Shepard flew on a 15-minute suborbital mission, quite a different experience than Glenn’s orbital trek.
Glenn died on Dec. 8, 2016, at the age of 95. His long, productive and inspiring life left a large imprint on the history books and the American consciousness. NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Ohio is named after the pioneering astronaut, for instance. And his Freedom 7 capsule is on display at the Stephen F. Udvar-Hazy Center of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum in Virginia.
Mike Wall is the author of “Out There” (Grand Central Publishing, 2018; illustrated by Karl Tate), a book about the search for alien life. Follow him on Twitter @michaeldwall. Follow us on Twitter @Spacedotcom or on Facebook.
NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — The body of Ugandan Olympic athlete Rebecca Cheptegei — who died after being set on fire by her partner in Kenya — was received Friday by family and anti-femicide crusaders, ahead of her burial a day later.
Cheptegei’s family met with dozens of activists Friday who had marched to the Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital’s morgue in the western city of Eldoret while chanting anti-femicide slogans.
She is the fourth female athlete to have been killed by her partner in Kenya in yet another case of gender-based violence in recent years.
Viola Cheptoo, the founder of Tirop Angels – an organization that was formed in honor of athlete Agnes Tirop, who was stabbed to death in 2021, said stakeholders need to ensure this is the last death of an athlete due to gender-based violence.
“We are here to say that enough is enough, we are tired of burying our sisters due to GBV,” she said.
It was a somber mood at the morgue as athletes and family members viewed Cheptegei’s body which sustained 80% of burns after she was doused with gasoline by her partner Dickson Ndiema. Ndiema sustained 30% burns on his body and later succumbed.
Ndiema and Cheptegei were said to have quarreled over a piece of land that the athlete bought in Kenya, according to a report filed by the local chief.
Cheptegei competed in the women’s marathon at the Paris Olympics less than a month before the attack. She finished in 44th place.
Cheptegei’s father, Joseph, said that the body will make a brief stop at their home in the Endebess area before proceeding to Bukwo in eastern Uganda for a night vigil and burial on Saturday.
“We are in the final part of giving my daughter the last respect,” a visibly distraught Joseph said.
He told reporters last week that Ndiema was stalking and threatening Cheptegei and the family had informed police.
Four in 10 women or an estimated 41% of dating or married Kenyan women have experienced physical or sexual violence perpetrated by their current or most recent partner, according to the Kenya Demographic and Health Survey 2022.
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — A rare Bronze-Era jar accidentally smashed by a 4-year-old visiting a museum was back on display Wednesday after restoration experts were able to carefully piece the artifact back together.
Last month, a family from northern Israel was visiting the museum when their youngest son tipped over the jar, which smashed into pieces.
Alex Geller, the boy’s father, said his son — the youngest of three — is exceptionally curious, and that the moment he heard the crash, “please let that not be my child” was the first thought that raced through his head.
The jar has been on display at the Hecht Museum in Haifa for 35 years. It was one of the only containers of its size and from that period still complete when it was discovered.
The Bronze Age jar is one of many artifacts exhibited out in the open, part of the Hecht Museum’s vision of letting visitors explore history without glass barriers, said Inbal Rivlin, the director of the museum, which is associated with Haifa University in northern Israel.
It was likely used to hold wine or oil, and dates back to between 2200 and 1500 B.C.
Rivlin and the museum decided to turn the moment, which captured international attention, into a teaching moment, inviting the Geller family back for a special visit and hands-on activity to illustrate the restoration process.
Rivlin added that the incident provided a welcome distraction from the ongoing war in Gaza. “Well, he’s just a kid. So I think that somehow it touches the heart of the people in Israel and around the world,“ said Rivlin.
Roee Shafir, a restoration expert at the museum, said the repairs would be fairly simple, as the pieces were from a single, complete jar. Archaeologists often face the more daunting task of sifting through piles of shards from multiple objects and trying to piece them together.
Experts used 3D technology, hi-resolution videos, and special glue to painstakingly reconstruct the large jar.
Less than two weeks after it broke, the jar went back on display at the museum. The gluing process left small hairline cracks, and a few pieces are missing, but the jar’s impressive size remains.
The only noticeable difference in the exhibit was a new sign reading “please don’t touch.”
VICTORIA – The British Columbia government is partnering with a bear welfare group to reduce the number of bears being euthanized in the province.
Nicholas Scapillati, executive director of Grizzly Bear Foundation, said Monday that it comes after months-long discussions with the province on how to protect bears, with the goal to give the animals a “better and second chance at life in the wild.”
Scapillati said what’s exciting about the project is that the government is open to working with outside experts and the public.
“So, they’ll be working through Indigenous knowledge and scientific understanding, bringing in the latest techniques and training expertise from leading experts,” he said in an interview.
B.C. government data show conservation officers destroyed 603 black bears and 23 grizzly bears in 2023, while 154 black bears were killed by officers in the first six months of this year.
Scapillati said the group will publish a report with recommendations by next spring, while an independent oversight committee will be set up to review all bear encounters with conservation officers to provide advice to the government.
Environment Minister George Heyman said in a statement that they are looking for new ways to ensure conservation officers “have the trust of the communities they serve,” and the panel will make recommendations to enhance officer training and improve policies.
Lesley Fox, with the wildlife protection group The Fur-Bearers, said they’ve been calling for such a committee for decades.
“This move demonstrates the government is listening,” said Fox. “I suspect, because of the impending election, their listening skills are potentially a little sharper than they normally are.”
Fox said the partnership came from “a place of long frustration” as provincial conservation officers kill more than 500 black bears every year on average, and the public is “no longer tolerating this kind of approach.”
“I think that the conservation officer service and the B.C. government are aware they need to change, and certainly the public has been asking for it,” said Fox.
Fox said there’s a lot of optimism about the new partnership, but, as with any government, there will likely be a lot of red tape to get through.
“I think speed is going to be important, whether or not the committee has the ability to make change and make change relatively quickly without having to study an issue to death, ” said Fox.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 9, 2024.
