In 1961 President Kennedy pledged that America would land a man on the moon within the decade. An exhibit featuring Colonel John Glenn's 1962 orbital space flight, the first by an American, portrays the lift-off of the manned space program. Excerpts from Kennedy's September 1962 remarks at Rice University outline his vision of this aspect of the new frontier.
Friendship 7 on Atlas 6 Booster Rocket
Plastic, wood, paint
36 ½ in.
Models of the Friendship 7 Mercury space capsule and Atlas 6 booster rocket presented to President Kennedy by astronaut John Glenn after he piloted Friendship 7 to complete the first American orbital space flight in February, 1962.
Moon Globe
Celeste Globes
Plastic
Diameter: 36 in.
President Kennedy received this authentic globe of the moon in 1962 as a gift. Portions of the far side of the moon are not portrayed as they had yet to be photographed or studied. The globes were produced for use in schools.
Photograph of Mercury Project Astronauts
Courtesy of NASA
Project Mercury Astronauts, whose selection was announced on April 9, 1959, only six months after the National Aeronautics and Space Administration was formally established on October 1, 1958. They are: front row, left to right, Walter H. Schirra, Jr., Donald K. Slayton, John H. Glenn, Jr., and Scott Carpenter; back row, Alan B. Shepard, Jr., Virgil I. Gus Grissom, and L. Gordon Cooper.
Project Mercury Hard Hat, ca. 1962
Plastic, paint, fiberglass
Presented to President Kennedy at Cape Canaveral by John Glenn on behalf of the Friendship 7 ground crew after his successful orbital flight on February 20, 1962.