Kennedy Space Center 40 Years of Americans in Orbit 1962-2002 Patch

John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth on February 20, 1962, circling it three times in Friendship 7 in 4 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds. This patch counts forty years from that flight, 1962 to 2002. Its lettering says it plainly: 40 YEARS OF AMERICANS IN ORBIT. On February 24, 2002, the four surviving Mercury astronauts, Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Wally Schirra and Gordon Cooper, gathered at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex to celebrate the 40th anniversary of American spaceflight. Kennedy Space Center's name runs along the bottom of the design.

Friendship 7 launched at 14:47 UTC from Launch Complex 14 at Cape Canaveral on an Atlas LV-3B, the flight NASA designated Mercury-Atlas 6. During the mission a sensor signal suggested the heat shield might be loose, so Mission Director Walter C. Williams had the retro pack kept on through reentry for extra protection. The warning turned out to be a faulty switch, and the heat shield was secure. Glenn splashed down in the North Atlantic, and the spacecraft was taken aboard the destroyer USS Noa. In the forty years that followed, Americans went to orbit on Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and the Space Shuttle, every crew of them launched from Florida's Space Coast.

The patch is a 4 by 3.75 inch shaped design with a cut edge that follows its outline in red. A white banner arches over the top with 40 YEARS OF AMERICANS in red, and IN ORBIT sits in red over a blue globe with North America in green. A white spacecraft sweeps across the lower globe on a white trail, while black and white orbit swoops reach out to either side behind red-edged white flame shapes. The lower banner carries 1962, a small red star and 2002, with KENNEDY SPACE CENTER beneath. It has a sew-on backing, made to be stitched down by hand or machine.

In 1962 the center did not yet carry Kennedy's name, and Glenn's flight left from a pad on Cape Canaveral itself. NASA's launch center on Merritt Island was named for President Kennedy in late 1963. By 2002 every Space Shuttle mission had launched from its pads at Complex 39. Glenn had gone back to orbit himself in 1998, at 77, aboard Discovery on STS-95. The men who stood in the Rocket Garden in 2002 were the link between the first orbit and everything launched from Florida since.

It fits a shadow box with a Friendship 7 or Mercury-Atlas patch, or the jacket of someone who works or volunteers on the Space Coast. It is also a good gift for anyone who remembers watching Glenn's launch on television in 1962. The red lettering stands out on a dark jacket. Forty years, one orbit at a time.