Fifty years ago this morning, John Glenn climbed into the Friendship 7 capsule to launch from Cape Canaveral’s Complex 14 and into history, as the first American to orbit our planet. The Mercury spacecraft was launched by NASA atop an Atlas rocket to 162 statute miles above the Atlantic Ocean.

Over the next four hours, Glenn orbited the Earth three times, at about 17,544 mph. Asked to describe his historic flight, Glenn said, “I don’t know what you could could say about a day in which you have seen four beautiful sunsets” (image credit: NASA).