. ♪ mercury control waits and watches with the atlas standing ready to throb into life. ready.dy, and so is john glenn. ♪ >> at the gantry, elevators lift glenn to the 11th level, the spacecraft level. ♪ glenn takes his place in friendship 7 looking toward the unknown. ♪ ready. mercury atlas is ready, and so is the astronaut. ♪ the countdown is under way at cape canaveral as all the world holds its breath and all the world is witness. ♪ >> missile power, go. rf systems, go. missile, go. all prestockpile lights are correct. the ready light is on. >> godspeed, john glenn. >> 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, 0. ♪ >> roger. the clock is operating. we're under way. read loud and clear. roger. we'll programming and we're all okay. >> a little bumpy here. >> stand by for 20 seconds. roger. backup clock is started. still. 102, 108. oxygen 78. 100 amps. 2-7. >> roger. loud and clear. flight path is good. back-up clock is started. >> minus 7-0 on your mark. some vibration coming up here now. we're smoothing out some now, getting out of the vibration area. >> roger. reading you loud and clear. flight path

ready, mercury atlas is ready and so is the astronaut.he countdown is under way at cape canaveral as all the world holds its breath and all the world is witness. >> all systems, go. >> mercury capsule? >> go. >> all pilot lights are on. >> god speed, john glenn. >> five, four, three, two, one. zero. >> roger. the clock is operating. we're under way. >> receive you loud and clear. roger. we're programming we're all okay. a little bumpy out here. >> stand by for 20 seconds. >> roger. >> two, one. mark. >> roger. back-up clock is started. >> fuel, 102, 101. oxygen, 78. 100. amps, 207. >> roger. flight path clear. >> roger. tech's okay. mine was 70 on your mark. we have some vibrations coming up here now. we're smoothing out getting out of the vibration area. >> roger. read you flight and clear. flight path is standing by. >> roger, pico. cannot see the tower. >> we can sense staging. >> roger. 1.5 gs. >> we got you. >> roger, bermuda. stand by. this is friendship 7. all the greats fired. okay. >> roger, 0-g. i feel fine. capsule is turning a

. >> mercury atlas is ready. >> reporter: john glenn had flown in world war ii and korea. he was awarded the distinguished flying cross five times. when you look at him here and when you realize he was just 41 at the time of the interview with nbc news, it's a reminder that back then men like john glenn grew up and grew old in a hurry and the u.s. again turned to john glenn because we were in a big hurry to orbit the earth. >> you look to the early space flights as almost being like you're going on a combat mission. you're representing your country in something that's important. >> reporter: russia scared us into action five years earlier by launching what was basically a silver basketball with a flashing light on it called sputnik. they sent up the first astronaut. they were the first to orbit. the only rocket we had was a converted ballistic nuclear missile, so glenn sat on top of that in a capsule so primitive by today's standards there is more technology in the average ford f-150 than there was aboard "friendship 7." >> three, two, one, zero. >> reporter: the montage i

. >> 50 years ago tomorrow, this was the scene at cape canaveral, mercury astronaut john glenn rockets into space upon an atlas rocket pushing 17,500 miles an hour, and an altitude of 162 miles. by the time it was all over, in 4 hours and 55 minutes, john glenn became the first american to actually orbit the earth. and this was the headline that people woke up to the day afterwards, felt wonderful. despite the fact they were worried that they had lost his heat shield in that flight and didn't know if he was going to survive reentry. >> very cool. >> that was unbelievable. >> do you remember the old sports page from that year? what'd the dodgers do that day. >> only a couple of athletes from that era could muster up excitement, and you've got them, don't you. >> buster posy makes his return on the field, but one giants picture suffers an injury already, and jeremy lin gets the chance to go national today. meanwhile, fill mickelson, can he make it back to back after pebble? "..." >> jeremy lin's high school coach is in such high demand that he needs a new phone that can handle seven calls at a time. >> anytime i

everything is go qulaim the takeoff of the atlas blasted off by 360,000 pounds of thrust carries the mercury gracefully skyward. friendship seven climbing out of the atmosphere exerts a pressure of six times the force of gravity on the affidavit fault. loud and clear he reports back to mercury control, reading off his instruments, commenting on his reactions. all is cooley and calmly as if he was commuting on the 827. glenn is able to control the pitch of the vehicle himself. now comes the moment when the mercury is turned so glenn will be seated backwards. he checks with ground control. >> i feel fine. capsule is turning around. that view is tremendous. roger has started. capsule turning around. i can see the booster. it was beautiful. >> roger seven, you have a go, at least seven orbits. >> roger, understand, go for at least seven orbits. >> actual pictures of glenn in the capsule will give scientists the opportunity to study his reactions as he passes over the canary islands, africa, the indian ocean, australia, back as cross the pacific and over the united states. he speeds at 17,50 mile

in the capsule atop the atlas missile, the colonel will be strapped to a contoured couch. once in flight the mercury will be tilted so that the astronaut will ride backwards. second tick off as his rendezvous with space approaches. hatch cover causes a slight delay whether a defective bolt is discovered. then, millions are moved to silent prayer. everything is go. the take-off of the "atlas" blastoff by 360,000 pounds of thrust carries the mergry gracely skyward. friendship 7 gracefully climbing out of the world's atmosphere exerts a pressure of six times the force of gravity on the astronaut. loud and clear he reports back to mercury control reading off his instruments, commenting on his reactions all as calmly and cooley as xhucommuting on the a. glenn checks with ground control. >> i feel fine. capsule is turning around. the view is tremendous. >> capsule turning around and could i see the booster during turnaround just a couple of yards behind me. it was beautiful. >> roger 7. have you a go. >> roger. understand go for at least seven orbits. >> actual pick tufrs glenn in the capsule will give sc