A Mercury space capsule that placed astronaut John Glenn as the first US astronaut in orbit in February 1962. Glenn chose the name ‘Friendship’, adding ‘7’ as a reference to the ‘Original Seven’ astronauts. Friendship 7 followed the 1961 sub-orbital flights on Freedom 7 (astronaut Alan Shepard) and Liberty Bell 7 (astronaut Gus Grissom). Later capsules taking astronauts into orbit were Aurora 7, Sigma 7, and Faith 7.