The FINANCIAL -- In celebration of 50 years of Americans in orbit, NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida will host several events Feb. 17 and 18 that will air live on NASA Television.

According to NASA, on Feb. 17 at 10 a.m. EST, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden and Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana will host an employee presentation on NASA TV with the first two Americans to orbit Earth, Mercury astronauts John Glenn and Scott Carpenter. On Feb. 20, 1962, Glenn piloted his Friendship 7 spacecraft on the first U.S. orbital mission. Three months later, on May 24, Carpenter became the second American in orbit.

At 3 p.m., NASA TV will air a news conference with Glenn and Carpenter. The event will take place at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in the Mercury Mission Control exhibit.

On Feb. 18 at 6:30 p.m., Glenn and Carpenter will participate in a ceremony at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex honoring all who made NASA's Project Mercury possible. The "On the Shoulders of Giants" program will include remarks from Cabana, Sen. Bill Nelson and astronaut Steve Robinson, who flew with Glenn on his second trip into orbit on shuttle Discovery's STS-95 mission in 1998.

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