John Glenn was born on July 18, 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio. He prepared for his mission into outer space for three years. The Atlas rocket stood over Cape Canaveral, Florida at seventy-four feet tall standing on launch pad number fourteen. He was in a capsule called Friendship seven that was very small and cramped. For two months before this day on February 20th, 1962, eleven lifts offs were cancelled due to weather and technical difficulties.
John Glenn had to wear a silver spacesuit and a helmet that was white. He had to listen carefully to his headset for the moment that would launch him into space to orbit the Earth. In his head he knew that the mission could fail and end in a tragedy and die that day. Glenn has been a Marine Corps fighter pilot and a test pilot and has encountered many risks before. He believed that his past experience and training had him well prepared for his mission.
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Glenn was so motivated that he began to run five miles a day on a beach to train himself. NASA chose Alan Shepard on January 19, 1961 to be the first person for flight. John Glenn was devastated because he had worked very hard for this moment and found out that he had not been chosen. When they chose the second candidate to be launched into space Glenn was assigned to be the backup pilot again.
After the second time of not being picked to be launched into space he began to lose his spirit and his entire family noticed. NASA stated that John Glenn was the astronaut that would pilot the first orbit. When Glenn heard the news he began to train even harder to make his skills even better than before and to improve his physical condition because his flight was scheduled for December. By training for hours he became familiar with the flight plan and simulators. Glenns partner and closest friend believed that his role in helping Glenn was to keep him calm and to