III 

112TH CONGRESS 

2D SESSION S. RES. 377 

Recognizing the 50th anniversary of the historic achievement of John Herschel 

Glenn, Jr., in becoming the first United States astronaut to orbit the Earth. 

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES 

FEBRUARY 15, 2012 

Mr. BROWN of Ohio (for himself, Mr. PORTMAN, Mr. NELSON of Florida, Mr. 

ROCKEFELLER, Mr. WICKER, Mr. BOOZMAN, Mr. DURBIN, Mrs. 

HUTCHISON, Mr. PRYOR, Mrs. MURRAY, Mr. REID, Mr. SCHUMER, and 

Mr. LEVIN) submitted the following resolution; which was considered and 

agreed to 

RESOLUTION 

Recognizing the 50th anniversary of the historic achievement 

of John Herschel Glenn, Jr., in becoming the first 

United States astronaut to orbit the Earth. 

Whereas John Herschel Glenn, Jr. was born on July 18, 

1921, in Cambridge, Ohio to parents John and Clara 

Glenn; 

Whereas John Glenn grew up in New Concord, Ohio with his 

childhood sweetheart and future wife, Annie Castor, 150 

miles east of Dayton, Ohio, the birthplace of the Wright 

brothers, who first took humankind into flight; 

Whereas John Glenn enlisted in the Naval Aviation Cadet 

program shortly after the December 7, 1941, attack on 


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Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, and was commissioned as an officer in the United States Marine Corps in 1943; 

Whereas John Glenn received many honors for his military 

service, including the Distinguished Flying Cross on 6 occasions, the Air Medal with 18 Clusters, the Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, the American Campaign Medal, 

the World War II Victory Medal, the China Service 

Medal, the National Defense Service Medal, and the Korean Service Medal; 

Whereas, with the onset of the Cold War, the United States 

and the free world feared the intentions of the Soviet 

Union in space; 

Whereas President Dwight D. Eisenhower asked the National 

Aeronautics and Space Administration (referred to in this 

preamble as ‘‘NASA’’) to find the most talented, patriotic, and selfless test pilots to participate in Project Mercury, the first human spaceflight program in the United 

States; 

Whereas John Glenn and fellow candidates for NASA’s Astronaut Corps underwent pressure suit, acceleration, vibration, heat, loud noise, psychiatric, personality, motivation, and aptitude tests at the Aeromedical Laboratory at 

the Wright Air Development Center in Dayton, Ohio; 

Whereas John Glenn, Malcolm S. Carpenter, L. Gordon Cooper, Jr., Virgil I. ‘‘Gus’’ Grissom, Walter M. Shirra, Jr., 

Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and Donald K. Slayton were selected from among hundreds of other patriotic candidates 

to be named the original ‘‘Mercury Seven’’ astronauts; 

Whereas Project Mercury was charged with the unprecedented responsibility of competing with the strides that 

the Soviet Union was making in space exploration; 


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Whereas the United States public viewed John Glenn and the 

Mercury Seven astronauts as men on the front line of the 

war not only for space supremacy but also, in many 

minds, for the survival of the United States; 

Whereas John Glenn accurately captured the significance of 

the time when he later wrote that ‘‘the world was at the 

door of a new age, and we were the people who had been 

chosen to take the first steps across the threshold’’; 

Whereas the Project Mercury astronauts trained for their 

manned space flight missions in the Multi-Axis Space 

Training Inertial Facility at NASA’s Research Center in 

Cleveland, Ohio; 

Whereas Alan Shepard was chosen to pilot the first manned 

Project Mercury mission on Freedom 7 on May 5, 1961, 

which proved that the United States was capable of successfully launching a person into suborbital flight; 

Whereas Virgil Grissom was chosen to pilot the second 

manned Project Mercury mission on Liberty Bell 7 and 

became the second United States astronaut to achieve 

suborbital flight on July 21, 1961; 

Whereas the Soviet Union had successfully launched the 

spacecrafts Lunar 2 and Lunar 3 in 1959 before successfully launching and returning to Earth Major Yuri Gagarin, who completed a 108-minute single orbit around the 

Earth in 1961; 

Whereas John Glenn was selected from among the Project 

Mercury astronauts to command the first United States 

capsule to orbit the Earth; 

Whereas John Glenn, with the help of his children Dave and 

Lyn, named the first United States space capsule to orbit 


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the Earth Friendship 7, re-emphasizing the peaceful intentions of the United States space exploration program; 

Whereas John Glenn trained vigorously, working through 70 

simulated missions and reacting to nearly 200 simulated 

system failures, to prepare to orbit the Earth and successfully complete the first manned orbital mission for 

the United States; 

Whereas the work that John Glenn conducted on the cockpit 

layout, instrument panel design, and spacecraft controls 

in the Mercury spacecraft enhanced the design of Friendship 7 and the ability of an astronaut to control Friendship 7, which proved useful during the mission; 

Whereas, at 9:47 a.m. Eastern Standard Time on February 

20, 1962, the Atlas 109D rocket boosters ignited and 

John Glenn and Friendship 7 commenced liftoff at 

NASA’s Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida; 

Whereas John Glenn, aboard Friendship 7, became the first 

United States astronaut to orbit the Earth, orbiting 3 

times and observing 3 sunrises, 3 sunsets, and the wonder of the universe in only 4 hours and 56 minutes; 

Whereas, when John Glenn learned that the heat shield on 

Friendship 7 had possibly become loose in orbit, compromising the successful completion of the space mission, 

Glenn bravely managed the reentry procedures and 

proved that a person can safely and successfully complete 

a NASA mission; 

Whereas John Glenn successfully completed reentry into 

Earth, splashing down in the Atlantic Ocean at 2:43 p.m. 

Eastern Standard Time, east of Grand Turk Island at 21 

degrees, 25 minutes North latitude and 68 degrees, 36 


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minutes West longitude, and was recovered by the USS 

Noa; 

Whereas, in the context of the Cold War, the success of the 

Friendship 7 flight restored the standing of the United 

States as the leading country in the race to space against 

the Soviet Union; 

Whereas the completion of the inaugural orbit of the Earth 

by John Glenn validated NASA’s manned space flight 

mission and secured the future missions of NASA’s 

manned space capsules; 

Whereas the people of the United States heralded John 

Glenn as the personification of heroism and dignity in an 

age of uncertainty and fear; 

Whereas the press later described John Glenn as a man who 

embodied the noblest human qualities; 

Whereas President John F. Kennedy echoed the belief held 

by John Glenn that the United States space program was 

not just a scientific journey but also a source of inspiration and pride, saying, ‘‘our leadership in science and industry, our hopes for peace and security . . . require us 

to solve these mysteries and to solve them for the good 

of all men’’; 

Whereas John Glenn is a patriot and space pioneer who encouraged the people of the United States to rightfully 

view NASA as an embodiment of the persistent quest of 

the people of the United States to expand their knowledge and explore frontiers; 

Whereas, in retirement, John and Annie Glenn continued 

their public service by establishing the John Glenn School 

of Public Affairs at The Ohio State University, living up 

to the words of John Glenn, who said, ‘‘If there is one 


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thing I’ve learned in my years on this planet, it’s that the 

happiest and most fulfilled people I’ve known are those 

who devoted themselves to something bigger and more 

profound than merely their own self-interest.’’; and 

Whereas, although 50 years have passed, the historic orbit of 

John Glenn around the Earth aboard Friendship 7 remains a source of pride and honor for the people of the 

United States: Now, therefore, be it 

1 Resolved, That the Senate— 

2 (1) honors the 50th anniversary of the land3 mark mission of John Herschel Glenn, Jr., in pilot4 ing the first manned orbital mission for the United 

5 States; 

6 (2) recognizes the profound importance of the 

7 achievement of John Glenn as a catalyst for space 

8 exploration and scientific advancement in the United 

9 States; and 

10 (3) honors the thousands of dedicated men and 

11 women of the National Aeronautics and Space Ad12 ministration who worked on Project Mercury and en13 sured the success of the Friendship 7 Mercury mis14 sion. 

Æ 


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