33 a
Ralph Morse

“Making of a brave man”; portrait of John Glenn, Project Mercury astronaut and first American in orbit

Mercury Atlas 6, January 1962

Large-format vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 27.8 x 35.8cm (11 x 14in), with restorations in the bottom left corner and in the image to the right of Glenn’s helmet

33 b
NASA / Unidentified Photographer

John Glenn during Altitude Chamber Test

Vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA caption on the verso, numbered “M-61-150” in black in top margin

33 c
NASA / Unidentified Photographer

John Glenn training for the first American orbital flight

Mercury Atlas 6, 1961-1962

Four vintage gelatin silver prints on fiber-based paper, each 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA HQ / Cape Canaveral / USAF captions on the versos, the third and fourth numbered “NASA S-61-3623 and S-61-1878” in black in top margin
27.8 x 35.8cm (11 x 14in)

33 a
Cover of Life Magazine, February 2, 1962, Making of a brave man.

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Lot Essay

33 a
This photograph by Ralph Morse graced the cover of Life Magazine (“Making of a Brave Man”) on February 2, 1962 before Glenn’s first American orbital flight.

“John Glenn’s success was a blaze of glory for the American public, whose adulation approached that given to Charles Lindbergh following his solo transatlantic flight in 1927” (Chaikin, Space, p. 29).

33 b
“Glenn stands before entrance to Mercury Altitude Test Facility in Hangar S at Cape Canaveral, Florida. Within this chamber, space environment simulations may be run with Mercury Pilots “flying” their spacecraft to an equivalent of 220,000 feet altitude, or beyond the Earth’s sensible atmosphere” (NASA caption).

33 c
John Glenn checking out his spacesuit at Hangar S (first photograph); Back-up Pilot Scott Carpenter assisting John Glenn with equipment adjustments during activities (second photograph); Glenn waiting in transfer van after being prepared for training in full spacesuit (third photograph); Glenn during training exercises in Cape Canaveral (fourth photograph).

Glenn is wearing a full pressure Mercury suit that will protect him during his three-orbital flight around the Earth. A portable air-conditioning unit cools his pressure suit when it is not hooked up to the spacecraft’s environmental control system.