The first person to travel in space, making one orbit on April 12, 1961, was Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, followed in August by another cosmonaut Gherman S. Titov, who spent 17 orbits in space. Also in 1961, American astronauts Alan B. Shepard Jr. and Virgil I. Grissom achieved suborbital flights to altitudes above 160 kilometers (100 miles).
Nevertheless, with this flight John Glenn became a national hero, and Americans gained confidence that they could compete successfully in space with the Soviet Union.
Height: 2.7 m (9 ft)
Maximum diameter: 1.9 m (6 ft 3 in)
Weight: 1,300 kg (2,900 lb)
Manufacturer: McDonnell Aircraft Corp. for NASA
Launch vehicle: Atlas-D