Glenn's success helped inspire the great army of people working to reach the Moon. After more than four hours in space, having circled the earth three times, Glenn piloted the Friendship 7 back into the atmosphere and landed in the Atlantic Ocean near Bermuda. Launched from Cape Canaveral, Florida, the Friendship 7 capsule carrying Glenn reached a maximum altitude of 162 miles and an orbital velocity of 17,500 miles per hour. became the first American to orbit Earth. Within a year, however, Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom became the first two Americans to travel into space. Skeptics questioned the ability of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to meet the president's timetable. On May 25, 1961, he stood before Congress to deliver a special message on "urgent national needs." He asked for an additional $7 billion to $9 billion over the next five years for the space program, proclaiming that "this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before the decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the earth." President Kennedy settled upon this dramatic goal as a means of focusing and mobilizing the nation's lagging space efforts. President Kennedy understood the need to restore America's confidence and intended not merely to match the Soviets, but surpass them. The United States, it seemed, was still falling behind. Then, in 1961, the nation suffered another shock when Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth. Project Mercury's goals were to orbit a manned spacecraft around Earth, investigate the ability of astronauts to function in space, and recover astronauts and spacecraft safely. Seven men were selected to take part in the program: Scott Carpenter, Leroy Gordon Cooper, John Glenn Jr., Virgil "Gus" Grissom, Walter Schirra Jr., Alan Shepard Jr., and Donald "Deke" Slayton. The Soviets' triumph jarred the American people and sparked a vigorous response in the federal government to make sure the United States did not fall behind its Communist rival.Ī new space program, Project Mercury, was initiated two years later, during President Dwight D.
In 1957, the Soviet Union launched the satellite Sputnik, and the space race was on.
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