How did the First Crewed Orbital American Spaceflight get its Name?

When John Glenn knock down off in Friendship 7 , he create history as the first American to orb our planet . But how did his historic trade bring in such an strange name when the previous two names were decidedly more patriotic in nature ?

John Glenn became the first American astronaut to orbit the satellite on February 20 , 1962 . He launched on an Atlas rocket , revolve the Earth three times in the Mercury capsule . He splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean just east of Grand Turk Island , and was piece up 21 minutes later by Navy Destroyer Noa .

Glenn posing with the Friendship 7 during pre - flight checks . prototype acknowledgment : NASA

Starship Test 9

But of course the most crucial part of the delegation was the name . Officially the mission was designated Mercury - Atlas 6 , with Mercury describe for the Roman courier god , Atlas block up the name of the rocket , and 6 nock the 6th use of the newer , quick rocket as a launch fomite . But the local usance was that each spaceman could pick a cognomen for their charge . The 7 was almost a founder — each of the anterior missions ( Freedom 7and Liberty Bell 7 ) already bear the number in award of theMercury Seven astronauts .

In his memoir , Glenn reveals the first part of the mission name comes from his children Dave and Lyn . He instructed them :

I said , “ There ’s only one ground rule . The world is going to be watching , so the name should stage our state and the way we feel about the ease of the world . ” They centre over a thesaurus and write tons of names in a notebook . Then they act them down to several possibilities , name and row including ; Columbia , Endeavour , America , Magellan , we , hope , concord , and kindness . At the top of the list was their first alternative : Friendship . I was so proud of them . They had chosen perfectly .

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