Taken by a pilot observer movie camera inside the Friendship 7 Spacecraft

Sequential views of John Glenn in weightlessness during the first American orbital flight

Mercury Atlas 6, February 20, 1962

Vintage gelatin silver print on fiber-based paper, 20.3 x 25.4cm (8 x 10in), with NASA HQ caption numbered “62- MA6-180” on the verso

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Lot Essay

“Astronaut John Glenn raises the face plate of his space helmet while in orbit and eats from a collapsible tube filled with apple sauce” (NASA caption).

John Glenn was the first American to eat in space aboard Friendship 7. At that time it was not known if ingestion and absorption of nutrients were possible in a state of zero gravity. Glenn’s consumption of applesauce, packed in a tube, demonstrated that people could eat, swallow, and digest food in a weightless environment.

“Another experiment related to the possible medical effects of weightlessness was eating in orbit. On the relatively short flight of Friendship 7, eating was not a necessity, but rather an attempt to determine whether there would be any problem in consuming and digesting food in a weightless state. At no time did I have any difficulty eating. I believe that any type of food can be eaten as long as it does not come apart easily or make crumbs. Prior to the flight, we joked about taking along some normal food such as a ham sandwich. I think this would be practical and should be tried. Sitting in the spacecraft under zero g is more pleasant than under 1 g on the ground, since you are not subject to any pressure points” related John Glenn (Pilot’s Flight Report).

“I felt that I adapted very rapidly to weightlessness.”
John Glenn