What John Glenn Saw When He Orbited the Earth

On this day in history, February 20, 1962, Friendship 7 lifted off with John Glenn aboard. Glenn's mission was to answer the Russian lead in the space race of the day. Yuri Gagarin was the first human in space and the first man to orbit the earth on April 12, 1961. Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth, and would make three orbits around the earth in 4:55:23 on his February 20 flight.

This article attempts to describe what views Glenn likely would have seen as he saw the world from a vantage point that only four other human beings had ever occupied before him. The article does a good job emphasizing that particular point to the reader of 2012, a person who is accustomed to seeing photographs of the earth from space.

Here is a taste:

Five minutes and four seconds into the flight of the Friendship 7, as John Glenn prepared to become the first American to orbit Earth, he radioed to NASA, his capsule turned and brought the Earth into sight. "Oh, that view is tremendous," he said.


In this post, I'll try to recreate some of Glenn's experience using imagery from our satellites and astronauts. It won't be a perfect recreation, but we'll have some chance of understanding what that first orbit must have been like.

 
One of the joys of history is the attempt at putting yourself in the position of the person experiencing the historical event firsthand. This article is very helpful in this regard. In early 1962, the United States was in the midst of the Cold War with the Soviet Union. America had suffered a string of humiliations in the few years prior: the Soviet launch of Sputnik in 1957, the shooting down of Gary Powers' U-2 spy plane right before the 1960 Paris Conference, the Bay of Pigs, Gagarin's space flight, and Kennedy's treatment by Khrushchev at the Vienna summit in 1961. Simply put, we needed some good news. John Glenn provided it, and became a national hero.

Enjoy the article.