John Glenn aboard the Friendship 7 Space Capsule---the first American to orbit Earth---in 1962.
Monday, February 20th will mark the 50th anniversary of NASA's Project Mercury, the first human spaceflight program in the United States.
Former Astronaut Glenn and fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter returned to Cape Canaveral earlier this week.
(SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER ASTRONAUT JOHN GLENN SAYING:
"There wasn't any closer brotherhood ever formed than that which came together to get things up, but you're the people who made it happen."
The launch of Mercury put the United States into a heated space race with the Soviet Union.
The retirement of the shuttles last year left the United States dependent on its former Cold War foe to get astronauts to and from the jointly owned International Space Station.
Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters
