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- L to R: Cal Fowler, Steve Robinson, John Glenn and Scott Carpenter face the flag as the National Anthem is sung to begin the event.
Today is the 50th anniversary of an American's first orbit of the earth. John Glenn was launched from Cape Canaveral on Feb. 20, 1962 inside the Friendship 7 capsule atop an Atlas rocket. He made three earth orbits and splashed down in the Atlantic ocean near the Bahamas five hours after launch, and was instantly an American hero.
Glenn had distinguished himself previous to his historic space flight as a fighter pilot, flying 59 missions during WWII and 90 missions during the Korean conflict. He was also the oldest American to go to space with his nine-day flight on Space Shuttle Discovery, launched on Oct. 29, 1998, when he was 77.
On Saturday evening, Glenn, now 90, along with the only other surviving member of the Mercury 7, Scott Carpenter, 86, were the honored guests at a special event called "On the Shoulders of Giants" held at the Kennedy Space Center Visitors Complex to honor and celebrate the accomplishments of the folks that made the historic Mercury Program possible. About 125 former engineers and other retirees from the Mercury program were invited guests at the event. There were other VIPs on the stage as well — veteran Shuttle astronaut Steve Robinson, who flew with John Glenn aboard Discovery in 1998, as well as three other shuttle missions; Bob Cabana, former astronaut and Kennedy Space Center director; former astronaut and current Senator Bill Nelson; Congressman Bill Posey; and the master of ceremonies, John Zarrella of CNN.
There was one other member of the Mercury team onstage, Cal Fowler. The Mercury Program launch test director, he was the person who 'pushed the button' that launched the rocket, and he's also the voice heard on the countdown audio of that historic launch in 1962 that said "Godspeed, John Glenn." He also commented to Glenn just prior to launch that day in 1962, "You know this was built by the lowest bidder on a government project."
Senator Glenn recounted that story from the stage on Saturday to the laughter of the crowd. The event concluded with Glenn and Carpenter signing a Mercury-Atlas artifact that will be put on display for future generations to see. This was truly a historic event.
More photo coverage after the break and at www.starznbarz.com.
This article appears in Feb 16-22, 2012.