For the dreamers, the believers, and the doers.
F7 is inspired by the people whose brilliance made NASA's Friendship 7 mission possible — and built for the generation ready to do it again.
MA—6 · Feb 20, 1962 · 3 orbits · Cape Canaveral LC—14
A bold goal at a fragile moment.
In 1958, NASA launched Project Mercury with one bold goal: put a man in space and orbit the Earth.
It was a massive effort — bringing together more than 0+ people across government, industry, and research — at a time marked by global tension, national urgency, and deep local segregation.
The teams solving the mission's hardest problems were limited by who had access to the room.
Yet the breakthroughs came from brilliant minds excluded from those spaces all along.
Drag the divider — feel the difference brilliance makes.
On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth.
A historic achievement powered not only by astronauts and engineers — but by the brilliance of Katherine Johnson, whose calculations helped determine America's path to orbit.
Flight Time
4h 55m 23s
Orbits
3
Velocity
17,544 mph
Apogee
162 mi
The mission didn't move forward until barriers were challenged and access expanded.
Until people like Katherine Johnson — who had long been excluded — were trusted with the tools and the opportunity to help create the solution.
And it expanded what was possible. Friendship 7 set the course for what came next — accelerating the path to Gemini, Apollo, and ultimately, the moon.
The details behind the mission.
01 · The flight
4 hours, 55 minutes, 23 seconds.
Three orbits at 17,544 mph before Friendship 7 splashed safely into the Atlantic.
John Glenn lifted off from Cape Canaveral at 09:47 EST aboard the Mercury‑Atlas 6. He circled Earth three times, witnessing four sunrises and sunsets in a single day.
Mid‑flight, a faulty heat shield warning forced engineers to improvise a re‑entry procedure on the fly. The capsule held — and a nation exhaled.
02 · The mathematician
"Get the girl. If she says they’re good, I’m ready to go."
Katherine Johnson hand‑checked the trajectory calculations Glenn’s life depended on.
By 1962, NASA had begun to rely on early IBM computers — but Glenn didn’t fully trust them. He asked engineers to "get the girl" to verify the numbers by hand.
Johnson’s calculations cleared the flight. Her work later guided Apollo 11 to the Moon and the Space Shuttle into orbit.
03 · Why it matters
The mission moved when the room got bigger.
Friendship 7 set the course for Gemini, Apollo, and the future we’re still building.
The breakthroughs that made orbit possible came from minds that had been kept out of the room for decades. The mission moved forward only when that changed.
F7 is named for that turning point — and built so the next generation gets the tools, the trust, and the chance to build what comes next.
Progress requires us to challenge the barriers that keep brilliance locked out.
It happens when people have the tools, are inspired, and are given the opportunity to act.
It slows when people are left out of the process.
Today, we are facing another frontier.
Technology is changing how the world works — fast. And once again, not everyone has equal access to the tools, training, and opportunities needed to participate.
Tools
AI is reshaping every field.
Access
Opportunity is still uneven.
Now
Time to open the next room.
F7 exists to expand who gets to participate in solving the challenges that shape our world.
By giving students the environment, guidance, and support to build — we prepare them to contribute, to collaborate, and to move ideas into action.
Because progress requires all of us.
And we depend on the next generation to move us forward.
Because we are only as strong as those who have been given the least access to opportunity.