Friendship 7 carried John Glenn on the first U.S. orbital spaceflight in 1962.
The Mercury capsule launched on 20 February 1962 atop an Atlas LV-3B rocket from Cape Canaveral. Glenn completed three orbits before returning safely to Earth after a flight lasting 4 hours, 55 minutes. The mission was officially designated Mercury-Atlas 6, while Friendship 7 was the spacecraft’s name.
During the flight, ground controllers became concerned about a possible heat-shield problem and instructed Glenn to keep the retrorocket pack attached during re-entry. The spacecraft landed in the Atlantic Ocean and was recovered by USS Noa.
The name Friendship 7 came from Glenn’s desire to emphasize peaceful exploration and international goodwill. Earlier American astronauts had flown in spacecraft named Freedom 7 and Liberty Bell 7, but those missions were suborbital.