ADVANCE FOR USE FRIDAY, FEB. 17, 2012 AND THEREAFTER - FILE - In this Feb. 20, 1962 photo provided by NASA, astronaut John Glenn climbs into the Friendship 7 space capsule atop an Atlas rocket at Cape Canaveral, Fla. for the flight which made him the first American to orbit the earth. (AP Photo/NASA)
ADVANCE FOR USE FRIDAY, FEB. 17, 2012 AND THEREAFTER - FILE - In this Feb. 20, 1962 photo provided by NASA, astronaut John Glenn climbs into the Friendship 7 space capsule atop an Atlas rocket at Cape Canaveral, Fla. for the flight which made him the first American to orbit the earth. (AP Photo/NASA)
ADVANCE FOR USE FRIDAY, FEB. 17, 2012 AND THEREAFTER - This Feb. 20, 1962 photo made available by NASA shows astronaut John Glenn during his space flight in the Friendship 7 Mercury spacecraft, weightless and traveling at 17,500 mph. The image was made by an automatic sequence motion picture camera. (AP Photo/NASA)
ADVANCE FOR USE FRIDAY, FEB. 17, 2012 AND THEREAFTER - This Jan. 25, 2012 photo shows Sen. John Glenn at his office in Columbus, Ohio. Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth, piloting Friendship 7 around the planet three times in 1962. Glenn, as a U.S. senator at age 77, also became the oldest person in space by orbiting Earth with six astronauts aboard shuttle Discovery in 1998. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)
ADVANCE FOR USE FRIDAY, FEB. 17, 2012 AND THEREAFTER - In this Jan. 25, 2012 photo, Sen. John Glenn speaks during an interview at his office in Columbus, Ohio. Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth, piloting Friendship 7 around the planet three times in 1962. Glenn, as a U.S. senator at age 77, also became the oldest person in space by orbiting Earth with six astronauts aboard shuttle Discovery in 1998. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)
ADVANCE FOR USE FRIDAY, FEB. 17, 2012 AND THEREAFTER - FILE - In this Feb. 23, 1962 file photo, astronaut John Glenn, left, and President John F. Kennedy, center, inspect the Friendship 7 Mercury capsule which Glenn rode in orbit. At right is Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson. Kennedy presented the Distinguished Service Medal to Glenn at Cape Canaveral, Fla. (AP Photo)
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) ? John Glenn fever has taken hold of Cape Canaveral once again.
Three days before the 50th anniversary of his historic flight, the first American to orbit the Earth addressed employees at Kennedy Space Center. The NASA auditorium was packed Friday with hundreds of workers, many of whom stood along the walls to see the space legend.
The 90-year-old Glenn was joined on stage by Scott Carpenter, 86, the only other survivor of the original Mercury 7 astronauts.
Glenn recalled how he and his fellow Mercury astronauts traveled to Cape Canaveral to watch a missile blast off. It was a night launch, and the rocket blew apart over their heads.
"That wasn't a very good confidence-builder for our first trip to the cape," Glenn said. Improvements were made, and Glenn said he gained confidence in his Mercury-Atlas rocket, a converted nuclear missile. Otherwise, he said he would not have climbed aboard.
Glenn's Friendship 7 capsule circled Earth three times on Feb. 20, 1962. Carpenter followed aboard Aurora 7 on May 24, 1962.
They were the third and fourth Americans to rocket into space. Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom flew short suborbital missions in 1961, the same year the Soviet Union launched two cosmonauts into orbit on separate shots.
Glenn and his wife, Annie, who turned 92 on Friday, were on hand Thursday evening for the attempted liftoff of the newest of the Atlas rockets. Windy weather forced a scrub of the Navy satellite launch.
Local TV reporters covering the Atlas V launch attempt talked more about Glenn than the countdown. The news media swarmed Kennedy again Friday for NASA's kickoff of a full weekend of anniversary festivities.
During Friday morning's hour-long presentation, Glenn and Carpenter paid tribute to their five deceased colleagues: Shepard, Grissom, Wally Schirra, Gordon Cooper and Deke Slayton.
"We need five more chairs here," Glenn told the crowd.
The two pioneers received standing ovations.
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