Mercury-Atlas 6 launch preparation. Friendship 7 capsule being hoisted to the top of the Atlas LV-3B rocket that will carry the Mercury 6 mission. Mercury-Atlas 6 (MA-6) was a manned spaceflight mission conducted by NASA as part of Project Mercury. It was the first American mission to put a human, John Glenn, in Earth orbit. The small Friendship 7 spacecraft was 2 metres long and only large enough for one crew member. Photographed at Launch Complex 14, Cape Canaveral, Florida, USA, in February 1962.