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<p>[QUOTE=&quot;Skyman, post: 2586598, member: 28299&quot;]On a sadder note, John Glenn died today.&nbsp; Still, given what he and the Nation accomplished in his lifetime, I think it is fair to celebrate.</p><p><br /></p><p>John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth in February 1962 (two Soviet Cosmonauts orbited the Earth before him).&nbsp; It&#039;s weird, but his flight is quite literally the first thing I remember (I was 3 years old at the time).</p><p><br /></p><p>Up until Glenn&#039;s flight, American&#039;s felt that they were out of the game compared to the Soviet Union, which had racked up a large number of space firsts.&nbsp; Glenn&#039;s flight gave the American people a chance to celebrate, and feel that they were back in the game.</p><p><br /></p><p>Glenn was the last of the Mercury 7, and in one of those weird twists of fate, the one with the earliest birthdate (e.g. he was the oldest of the Seven).</p><p><br /></p><p>Godspeed John Glenn.</p><p><br /></p><p>Here&#039;s a picture of the Mercury 7. From left: Carpenter, Cooper, GLENN, Grissom, Schirra, Shepard, Slayton.</p><p>[ATTACH=full]562466[/ATTACH] </p><p><br /></p><p>As you might imagine, it is difficult to find anything flown from Friendship 7. I have one Friendship 7 flown piece in my collection. Remains from the Atlas booster rocket that launched Glenn were found in South Africa in late February 1962. The piece was about 3 feet by 2 feet in size, and weighed about 3 pounds. The piece had serial numbers on it that were confirmed to be from the 109-D Atlas rocket (e.g. Glenn&#039;s Atlas). The piece was cut up into smaller sections and given to people who had helped make the flight successful. The piece I have was given to Deke Slayton, who became head of the Astronaut office. He kept the piece on his desk.&nbsp; </p><p>[ATTACH=full]562469[/ATTACH][/QUOTE]</p><p><br /></p>

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