Known as Mercury Friendship 7, this capsule was the first to orbit the earth with an American astronaut in it. Who was it?

A decorated World War II fighter pilot, Glenn was one of seven astronauts selected for the inaugural U.S. space program in 1959. Project Mercury had a single mission: to launch a manned capsule that successfully orbited the earth... before the Russians were about to do it. To Eisenhower's chagrin, we came in second. In 1961, Yuri Gagarin completed one full orbit of the planet. Less than a year later, Glenn did it too (three times, so take that!)

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