John Glenn aboard the Friendship 7 Space Capsule---the first American to orbit Earth---in 1962.<br/> <br />Monday, February 20th will mark the 50th anniversary of NASA's Project Mercury, the first human spaceflight program in the United States.<br/> <br />Former Astronaut Glenn and fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter returned to Cape Canaveral earlier this week.<br/> <br />(SOUNDBITE) (English) FORMER ASTRONAUT JOHN GLENN SAYING:<br/> <br />"There wasn't any closer brotherhood ever formed than that which came together to get things up, but you're the people who made it happen."<br/> <br />The launch of Mercury put the United States into a heated space race with the Soviet Union.<br/> <br />The retirement of the shuttles last year left the United States dependent on its former Cold War foe to get astronauts to and from the jointly owned International Space Station.<br/> <br />Deborah Lutterbeck, Reuters
