On February 20th 1962 a 41 year old American man named John Glenn orbited the earth 3 times in the friendship 7 spacecraft.

February 20th 1962 at Cape Canaveral a spacecraft called friendship 7 launched into space and orbited the earth 3 times. On the spacecraft there was a man named John Glenn. John Glenn was a 41 year old American man when he orbited the earth. He was the first American man from NASA to orbit the earth.

The speed of the orbit was 281627.5 kilometers per hour. He spent 4 hours 55 minutes to orbit around the earth. When John Glenn was in space he said "The sky in space is very black with thin band of blue along the horizon." His second space mission took place when he was 77 becoming the oldest man to travel into space.

He came back to earth in the space craft. He slashed down into the sea.