Space Station Supply Ship Honors John Glenn
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CAPE CANAVERAL (CBSMiami/AP) — A supply ship for the International Space Station honored astronaut John Glenn when it blasted off on Tuesday.
A mighty Atlas rocket provided the lift, just as it did for Glenn 55 years ago.
The unmanned rocket launched at 11:11 a.m. from Cape Canaveral, carrying a commercial cargo ship named the S.S. John Glenn.
Following Glenn's death in December, Orbital ATK asked his widow, Annie, for permission to use his name for the spacecraft.
Glenn, an original Mercury 7 astronaut, became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962. He returned to orbit in the space shuttle in 1998 at age 77, the oldest person ever to fly in space.
Tuesday's launch was also the first time ever that cameras provided a live 360-degree video view of a rocket heading toward space.
The four fisheye lens cameras were located at the periphery of the pad, about 300 feet (100 meters) from the rocket. A computer in a blast-proof box stitched together the images for a full, in-the-round view.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)