Astronaut John Glenn was one of the Mercury Seven, the first Americans trained for spaceflight. Before Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in his Friendship 7 mission on February 20, 1962, he went through a lot of training.
In the photograph above, he practices for the Mercury mission in a spacecraft simulator, staring determinedly at the ceiling while a NASA researcher tracks his every move. Below, he practices exercises in the Mercury Procedures Trainer at the Space Task Group, Langley Field, Virginia. The trainer was used to practice normal and emergency modes of systems operations.
Image credit: NASA
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