Today, July 18, 2011, is John Glenn’s 90th birthday.
On Feb. 20, 1962 at 9:47 am EST, Glenn launched from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 14 to become the first American to orbit the Earth. In this image, Glenn enters his Friendship 7 capsule with assistance from technicians to begin his historic flight.
Fantastic photo from NASA’s Image of the Day Gallery. Click it to read the rest of the writeup and download it in bigger sizes.