The original Mercury 7 astronauts inspect an early design of a space module. From left are Gus Grissom, Deke Slayton, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Alan Shepard and Wally Schirra. In 1962, Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth. <a href='http://life.time.com/history/john-glenn-unpublished-photos/#1' target='_blank'>See more images at Life.com</a>
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