NASA Marks 45th Anniversary of Americans in Orbit (Forwarded)

Bob Jacobs
Headquarters, Washington Feb. 16, 2007
202-358-1600

RELEASE: 07-45

NASA MARKS 45TH ANNIVERSARY OF AMERICANS IN ORBIT

WASHINGTON -- NASA commemorates the 45th anniversary of Americans
in orbit with a special multimedia salute to the original Mercury
astronauts and new interviews with Sen. John Glenn, Scott Carpenter
and Walter Schirra.

On Feb. 20, 1962, an Atlas rocket successfully carried Glenn and the
hopes of an entire nation into orbit aboard Friendship 7, a flight
that ushered in a new era of space travel that eventually led to
Americans walking on the moon by the end of the 1960s. "Glenn's
achievement came at a time when there were many unknowns about the
ability of humans to survive in space," said NASA Deputy
Administrator Shana Dale.

Glenn was soon followed into orbit by colleagues Carpenter, Schirra
and Gordon Cooper. Their fellow Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and
Virgil "Gus" Grissom flew earlier suborbital flights, and Donald
"Deke" Slayton was grounded by a medical condition until the
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975.

NASA remembers the achievements of its first generation of explorers
through special programming and interviews on NASA Television and an
extraordinary interactive feature on the agency's Internet site,
www.nasa.gov, beginning at noon EST, Friday.

A half-hour program that highlights the achievements of Mercury and
the 45th anniversary of Americans in orbit will be broadcast on NASA
TV. Extended interviews with surviving Mercury astronauts Glenn,
Carpenter and Schirra also will be available on NASA TV's Video File
feeds for media organizations, as will a special message from the
Expedition 14 crew orbiting Earth on board the International Space
Station.

The interactive Internet feature is hosted by NASA astronaut Carl Walz
and will offer a rare virtual look inside Glenn's Mercury spacecraft,
which is on display at the Smithsonian Institution's National Air and
Space Museum in Washington.

Images from a rare photo shoot inside the tiny Friendship 7 capsule
provides a 360-degree tour of the spacecraft. Plus, users can select
the questions answered by veteran space explorers Glenn, Carpenter
and Schirra.

To experience the 45th anniversary of Americans in Orbit multimedia
feature, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mercury

For more information about NASA TV programming, Video File feed times,
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/ntv