John Glenn honored with launch of space station supply ship

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — John Glenn's trailblazing legacy took flight Tuesday as a cargo ship bearing his name rocketed toward the International Space Station.

An Atlas rocket provided the late morning lift to orbit, just as it did for Glenn 55 years ago.

The commercial cargo ship, dubbed the S.S. John Glenn, holds nearly 7,700 pounds (3,500 kilograms) of food, equipment and research for the space station. It's due there Saturday, two days after the arrival of two fresh astronauts.

NASA's shipper, Orbital ATK, asked Glenn's widow, Annie, for permission to use his name for the spacecraft, following his December death.

Glenn, an original Mercury 7 astronaut, became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. He launched again in 1998 aboard shuttle Discovery at age 77, the oldest person ever in space. He was buried at Arlington National Cemetery two weeks ago.

"It's a great tribute to John to be able to take his name to orbit once again," said Frank Culbertson, a former astronaut who now heads Orbital ATK's space systems group.

Besides supplies, the capsule contains a banner showing Glenn in his orange space shuttle launch suit — it's the first thing the station astronauts will see when they open the craft — as well as memorabilia for his family. Because the launch was delayed a month by hydraulic problems at the pad and on the rocket, no Glenn family members were able to make it to Cape Canaveral, according to Culbertson.

Orbital ATK — one of NASA's prime delivery services for the space station, along with SpaceX — normally uses its own Virginia-based Antares rockets to launch its Cygnus cargo ships, named after the swan constellation. But it opted for the United Launch Alliance's bigger Atlas V rocket in order to carry up a heftier load. A new, larger greenhouse is flying up, along with equipment needed for a spacewalk next month.

"Looks like we nailed the orbit," said Vern Thorp, a manager for the rocket maker.

Three astronauts currently are at the outpost, which is orbiting 250 miles (402.32 kilometers) high. The American, Russian and Frenchman on board will be joined Thursday by another American and Russian who will take off from Kazakhstan.

SpaceX and Boeing are developing new capsules that could fly U.S. astronauts to the space station as early as next year.

Tuesday's launch was the first broadcast live in 360-degree video.