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feb 20, 1962 - First American in orbit (USA)

Description:

Almost a year after the Soviet Union put a human into orbit, astronaut John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth, on February 20, 1962. His Mercury-Atlas 6 mission completed three orbits in the Friendship 7 spacecraft, and splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean, after a tense reentry, due to what falsely appeared from the telemetry data to be a loose heat-shield.

Added to timeline:

20 Nov 2017
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Date:

feb 20, 1962
Now
~ 63 years ago