John Glenn honored with launch of space station supply ship
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — John Glenn's trailblazing legacy took flight today as a cargo ship bearing his name rocketed toward the International Space Station.
An Atlas rocket provided the late morning lift to orbit, just as it did for Glenn 55 years ago.
The commercial cargo ship, dubbed the S.S. John Glenn, holds nearly 7,700 pounds of food, equipment and research for the space station. It's due there Saturday, two days after the arrival of two fresh astronauts.
NASA's shipper, Orbital ATK, asked Glenn's widow, Annie, for permission to use his name for the spacecraft, after his December death.
Glenn, an original Mercury 7 astronaut, became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. He launched again in 1998 aboard shuttle Discovery at age 77, the oldest person ever in space. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery two weeks ago.
"It's a great tribute to John to be able to take his name to orbit once again," said Frank Culbertson, a former astronaut who now heads Orbital ATK's space systems group.
Besides supplies, the capsule contains a banner showing Glenn in his orange space shuttle launch suit – it's the first thing the station astronauts will see when they open the craft – as well as memorabilia for his family.