4 Hours and 55 minutes

 That’s all it took to define 95 years of one man’s life.  When looking back at humanity’s brief history in the sky, historians and onlookers alike can point to crowning achievements in aeronautics like the Wright Brothers “Flying Machine,” Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight, Amelia Earhart, the Russian Sputnik, Neil Armstrong’s walk on the moon and just maybe future historians will look at the SpaceX Falcon Heavy launch in the same breath.  Yet, the first American to orbit the Earth, John Glenn, is often overlooked. 

John Glenn flew F4F Wildcat fighter planes in WWII, bomber missions nicknamed “Magnet Ass” in Korea with future Boston Red Sox Hall of Famer Ted Williams, and the fastest supersonic transcontinental flight in the late 50’s in under 3.5 hours, but after October 4th 1957, when the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik, his life would change dramatically. 

In the wake of the realization that the US had become second rate in the aeronautics technology department, President Dwight D. Eisenhower created NASA to boost America’s confidence that they could best Russia in any arena.  508 military pilots were recruited to become astronauts. Of those 508, only 110 met minimum requirements. As the competition became more fierce and the requirements more rigorous, the Project Mercury astronauts number dwindled from 32 to 12 to 6. Glenn was among them. 

After Yuri Gagarin became the first to orbit the earth and successfully return, on February 20, 1962, John Glenn and his Friendship 7 spacecraft were sent into orbit, spending a record shattering 4 hours and 55 minutes in space. He bested Yuri Gagarin’s mark of 108 minutes. 

His achievement was even more astonishing when you consider there were a number of setbacks with equipment malfunctions and weather delays. In fact, a faulty sensor told ground control that the Friendship 7 heat shield was loose. If this were the case, Glenn would not survive reentry.  If surviving reentry wasn’t enough, NASA was also unaware of where the spacecraft would land. Glenn carried a note in several different languages stating, "I am a stranger. I come in peace. Take me to your leader and there will be a massive reward for you in eternity" just in case he landed outside of US jurisdiction.

 John Glenn’s achievement might not be as well known as Gagarin’s first flight or Armstrong’s first step but it was moral boost the United States needed to accomplish the giant leap forward towards our goal of landing on the Moon.

Thank you for taking the time to read my original writing.  I appreciate any votes and follows you are willing to throw my way. 

 - @writesbackwards