NASA Astronomy Picture of the Day Collection

John Glenn: Discovery Launch

At left [ http://www-pao.ksc.…], the Space Shuttle Discovery waits in darkness on Kennedy Space Center's launch pad 39B [ http://www-pao.ksc.…]. At right [ http://www-pao.ksc.…], on Thursday October 29, Discovery blasts through a bright afternoon sky returning Senator John Glenn to space over 36 years after he became the first American in orbit [ http://www.hq.nasa.…]. Paving the way in 1962 Glenn flew solo [ http://antwrp.gsfc.…], but today he is part of a crew of seven astronauts [ http://shuttle.nasa…] shepherding scientific payloads [ http://shuttle.nasa…] on shuttle mission STS-95 [ http://shuttle.nasa…]. On tape, fellow Mercury Program astronaut Scott Carpenter [ http://www.hq.nasa.…] again wished, "... Godspeed John Glenn." while Kennedy Space Center launch control offered, "Let the wings of Discovery lift us into the future [ http://quest.arc.na…]." At age 77, John Glenn [ http://www.jsc.nasa…], a legend and hero of NASA's first human spaceflight program [ http://www.hq.nasa.…], has become the oldest space traveler. From orbit [ http://shuttle.nasa…], Glenn commented, "... zero-g and I feel fine!"

Courtesy KSC [ http://www.ksc.nasa…], NASA [ http://www.nasa.gov]

spacecraft

discovery

john glenn

Scott Carpenter

John H. Glenn

1962

Mercury

Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC)

Johnson Space Center (JSC)

Kennedy Space Center (KSC)

Mercury

Space Shuttle Orbiter

1962

http://antwrp.gsfc.…

SPD-APOD-ap981030