The space race was amazing and I remember the US sie had its own propoganda going- I grew up thinking John Glenn was the first man in space- not the first man to ORBIT the earth. That little detail was left out and no mention at all that a Russian man was first into space - I didnt leanr that until i was in college
“I grew up thinking John Glenn was the first man in space- not the first man to ORBIT the earth.”
The first man to *orbit* the Earth was either Yuri Gagarin or Gherman Titov. Both flew in 1961. Glenn flew in 1962. Gagarin is generally credited as the first man to orbit the Earth, but he landed west of where he launched, making it a fractional orbit. Titov was the second cosmonaut launched, and made 17 orbits, so he did orbit the Earth. So Glenn was only the first *American* to orbit the Earth (or else the first astronaut, as the Soviets had cosmonauts).
Glenn was the first AMERICAN to orbit the earth, after two earlier sub-orbital flights IIRC.
The first manned mission in space, by Russian Yuri Gagarin, (sp?)was an orbital flight.
We can’t “race” anyone now. The climate and Islam is a much more important endeavor for NASA now.
You must be a youngster.
I remember watching Yuri Gagarin’s and Alan Shepard’s flights in the 4rth grade. Gagarin’s was orbital, the first, and Shepard’s was suborbital. Gagarin was the first man in space (that we know of).
This was concurrent with practicing hiding under our desks when the hydrogen bomb warnings came.
John Glenn was a hero turned traitor who starred in the goobermint docudrama “Elderly Traitor ‘Rats In Space”, his first orbital flight as an American all but forgotten and heavily overshadowed by his treason.