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Scott Carpenter and John Glenn to Speak at the National Air and Space Museum on June 23

Mercury Astronauts Scott Carpenter and John Glenn are to speak at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum’s annual John H. Glenn Lecture in Space History, on Thursday, June 23 8:00 pm.

The lecture will take place in the IMAX Theater and will be simulcast to overflow seating in the museum. The Director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, as well as John Glenn and Scott Carpenter will visit each overflow area prior to the lecture for a brief welcome to the overflow guests.

On Feb. 20, 1962, John Glenn piloted the Friendship 7 spacecraft on the United States’ first orbital Mercury mission. His flight, launched by a Mercury-Atlas rocket, lasted four hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds, all but seven minutes in weightlessness. Glenn gained instant national fame as the first American to orbit the Earth. He later flew in space a second time aboard Space Shuttle Discovery (STS-95) in 1998.

Scott Carpenter flew into space May 24, 1962, aboard Aurora 7, which launched atop a Mercury-Atlas rocket for a three-orbit science mission lasting nearly five hours. He was the second American to orbit the Earth and the fourth American in space. Carpenter has also performed pioneering research in deep-sea diving and habitability on the ocean floor.

si.edu

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