Monumentally important, this is the first image of an American astronaut in space. In the Project Mercury spacecraft named Friendship 7, John Glenn became the first American astronaut to orbit Earth.

Part 2 explores the dramatically different approaches to the launch systems, and the surprising similarities in the factors that contributed to their success. Although they served very different ...

The Mercury rocket marked America’s first steps into human spaceflight, but its very design limited how long its success could last. In this segment, we look back at how the Redstone and Atlas ...