Christopher Browne, acting director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum delivers opening remarks at the presentation of the 2022 Michael Collins Trophy, Thursday, March 24, 2022, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly, Va. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Michael Collins Trophy recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in aeronautics and spaceflight. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Christopher Browne, acting director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum delivers opening remarks at the presentation of the 2022 Michael Collins Trophy, Thursday, March 24, 2022, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly, Va. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Michael Collins Trophy recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in aeronautics and spaceflight. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Wally Funk delivers remarks after accepting the 2022 Michael Collins Trophy for Lifetime Achievement, Thursday, March 24, 2022, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly, Va. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Michael Collins Trophy recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in aeronautics and spaceflight. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Wally Funk delivers remarks after accepting the 2022 Michael Collins Trophy for Lifetime Achievement, Thursday, March 24, 2022, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly, Va. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Michael Collins Trophy recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in aeronautics and spaceflight. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Wally Funk delivers remarks after accepting the 2022 Michael Collins Trophy for Lifetime Achievement, Thursday, March 24, 2022, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly, Va. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Michael Collins Trophy recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in aeronautics and spaceflight. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson speaks at the presentation of the 2022 Michael Collins Trophy, Thursday, March 24, 2022, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly, Va. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Michael Collins Trophy recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in aeronautics and spaceflight. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson speaks at the presentation of the 2022 Michael Collins Trophy, Thursday, March 24, 2022, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly, Va. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Michael Collins Trophy recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in aeronautics and spaceflight. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

NASA Administrator Bill Nelson speaks at the presentation of the 2022 Michael Collins Trophy, Thursday, March 24, 2022, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly, Va. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Michael Collins Trophy recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in aeronautics and spaceflight. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Wally Funk, left, accepts the 2022 Michael Collins Trophy for Lifetime Achievement from Christopher Browne, acting director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, right, Thursday, March 24, 2022, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly, Va. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Michael Collins Trophy recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in aeronautics and spaceflight. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Interim director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Lt. Gen. Larry James, USAF (Ret.), right, delivers remarks after accepting the 2022 Michael Collins Trophy for Current Achievement on behalf of MiMi Aung and the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter Team, Thursday, March 24, 2022, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly, Va. Pictured with James are Dave Lavery, program executive for Solar System Exploration at NASA Headquarters, left, Joshua Anderson, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter tactical lead at NASA JPL, second from left, and Gerik Kubiak, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter flight software lead at NASA JPL, center. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Michael Collins Trophy recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in aeronautics and spaceflight. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Interim director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Lt. Gen. Larry James, USAF (Ret.), right, delivers remarks after accepting the 2022 Michael Collins Trophy for Current Achievement on behalf of MiMi Aung and the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter Team, Thursday, March 24, 2022, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly, Va. Pictured with James are Dave Lavery, program executive for Solar System Exploration at NASA Headquarters, left, Joshua Anderson, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter tactical lead at NASA JPL, second from left, and Gerik Kubiak, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter flight software lead at NASA JPL, center. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Michael Collins Trophy recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in aeronautics and spaceflight. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

Interim director of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory Lt. Gen. Larry James, USAF (Ret.), second from right, accepts the 2022 Michael Collins Trophy for Current Achievement from Christopher Browne, acting director of the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, right, on behalf of MiMi Aung and the Mars Ingenuity Helicopter Team, Thursday, March 24, 2022, at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy center in Chantilly, Va. Pictured with James and Browne are Dave Lavery, program executive for Solar System Exploration at NASA Headquarters, left, Joshua Anderson, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter tactical lead at NASA JPL, second from left, and Gerik Kubiak, Ingenuity Mars Helicopter flight software lead at NASA JPL, center. The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum’s Michael Collins Trophy recognizes extraordinary accomplishments in aeronautics and spaceflight. Photo Credit: (NASA/Joel Kowsky)

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- John Glenn and NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson stand in the middeck of space shuttle Discovery in Orbiter Processing Facility-1 OPF-1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Glenn is at the space center to mark the 50th anniversary of being the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth inside the NASA Mercury Project's Friendship 7 capsule on Feb. 20, 1962. Glenn later returned to space in October 1998 as a payload specialist aboard Discovery's STS-95 mission. Robinson was the payload commander of STS-95. Glenn's launch aboard an Atlas rocket took with it the hopes of an entire nation and ushered in a new era of space travel that eventually led to Americans walking on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Glenn soon was followed into orbit by Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra and Gordon Cooper. Their fellow Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Grissom flew earlier suborbital flights. Deke Slayton, a member of NASA's original Mercury 7 astronauts, was grounded by a medical condition until the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. Shuttle Discovery currently is being prepared for display at Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Photo credit: Cory Huston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- John Glenn and his wife, Annie, and NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson stand beside the wheel of space shuttle Discovery in Orbiter Processing Facility-1 OPF-1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Glenn is at the space center to mark the 50th anniversary of being the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth inside the NASA Mercury Project's Friendship 7 capsule on Feb. 20, 1962. Glenn later returned to space in October 1998 as a payload specialist aboard Discovery's STS-95 mission. Robinson was the payload commander of STS-95. Glenn's launch aboard an Atlas rocket took with it the hopes of an entire nation and ushered in a new era of space travel that eventually led to Americans walking on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Glenn soon was followed into orbit by Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra and Gordon Cooper. Their fellow Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Grissom flew earlier suborbital flights. Deke Slayton, a member of NASA's original Mercury 7 astronauts, was grounded by a medical condition until the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. Shuttle Discovery currently is being prepared for display at Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Photo credit: Cory Huston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- John Glenn and his wife, Annie, and NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson stand under space shuttle Discovery in Orbiter Processing Facility-1 OPF-1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Glenn is at the space center to mark the 50th anniversary of being the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth inside the NASA Mercury Project's Friendship 7 capsule on Feb. 20, 1962. Glenn later returned to space in October 1998 as a payload specialist aboard Discovery's STS-95 mission. Robinson was the payload commander of STS-95. Glenn's launch aboard an Atlas rocket took with it the hopes of an entire nation and ushered in a new era of space travel that eventually led to Americans walking on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Glenn soon was followed into orbit by Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra and Gordon Cooper. Their fellow Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Grissom flew earlier suborbital flights. Deke Slayton, a member of NASA's original Mercury 7 astronauts, was grounded by a medical condition until the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. Shuttle Discovery currently is being prepared for display at Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Photo credit: Cory Huston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- John Glenn and NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson sit in the flight deck of space shuttle Discovery in Orbiter Processing Facility-1 OPF-1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Glenn is at the space center to mark the 50th anniversary of being the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth inside the NASA Mercury Project's Friendship 7 capsule on Feb. 20, 1962. Glenn later returned to space in October 1998 as a payload specialist aboard Discovery's STS-95 mission. Robinson was the payload commander of STS-95. Glenn's launch aboard an Atlas rocket took with it the hopes of an entire nation and ushered in a new era of space travel that eventually led to Americans walking on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Glenn soon was followed into orbit by Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra and Gordon Cooper. Their fellow Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Grissom flew earlier suborbital flights. Deke Slayton, a member of NASA's original Mercury 7 astronauts, was grounded by a medical condition until the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. Shuttle Discovery currently is being prepared for display at Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Photo credit: Cory Huston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- John Glenn and his wife, Annie, and NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson stand under space shuttle Discovery in Orbiter Processing Facility-1 OPF-1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Glenn is at the space center to mark the 50th anniversary of being the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth inside the NASA Mercury Project's Friendship 7 capsule on Feb. 20, 1962. Glenn later returned to space in October 1998 as a payload specialist aboard Discovery's STS-95 mission. Robinson was the payload commander of STS-95. Glenn's launch aboard an Atlas rocket took with it the hopes of an entire nation and ushered in a new era of space travel that eventually led to Americans walking on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Glenn soon was followed into orbit by Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra and Gordon Cooper. Their fellow Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Grissom flew earlier suborbital flights. Deke Slayton, a member of NASA's original Mercury 7 astronauts, was grounded by a medical condition until the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. Shuttle Discovery currently is being prepared for display at Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Photo credit: Cory Huston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- John Glenn and his wife, Annie, and NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson stand under space shuttle Discovery in Orbiter Processing Facility-1 OPF-1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Glenn is at the space center to mark the 50th anniversary of being the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth inside the NASA Mercury Project's Friendship 7 capsule on Feb. 20, 1962. Glenn later returned to space in October 1998 as a payload specialist aboard Discovery's STS-95 mission. Robinson was the payload commander of STS-95. Glenn's launch aboard an Atlas rocket took with it the hopes of an entire nation and ushered in a new era of space travel that eventually led to Americans walking on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Glenn soon was followed into orbit by Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra and Gordon Cooper. Their fellow Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Grissom flew earlier suborbital flights. Deke Slayton, a member of NASA's original Mercury 7 astronauts, was grounded by a medical condition until the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. Shuttle Discovery currently is being prepared for display at Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Photo credit: Cory Huston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson sits at the controls in the flight deck of space shuttle Discovery in Orbiter Processing Facility-1 OPF-1 at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Robinson is helping John Glenn mark the 50th anniversary of being the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth inside the NASA Mercury Project's Friendship 7 capsule on Feb. 20, 1962. Glenn later returned to space in October 1998 as a payload specialist aboard Discovery's STS-95 mission. Robinson was the payload commander of STS-95. Glenn's launch aboard an Atlas rocket took with it the hopes of an entire nation and ushered in a new era of space travel that eventually led to Americans walking on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Glenn soon was followed into orbit by Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra and Gordon Cooper. Their fellow Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Grissom flew earlier suborbital flights. Deke Slayton, a member of NASA's original Mercury 7 astronauts, was grounded by a medical condition until the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. Shuttle Discovery currently is being prepared for display at Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Photo credit: Cory Huston

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- NASA Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, right, talks to guests in Orbiter Processing Facility-1 OPF-1 where space shuttle Discovery is being prepared for public display during a 50th anniversary celebration of the first orbital flight of an American. The astronaut who made that first flight, John Glenn, is at the space center to commemorate that achievement. Glenn orbited the Earth three times in the NASA Mercury Project's Friendship 7 capsule on Feb. 20, 1962. He later returned to space in October 1998 as a payload specialist aboard Discovery's STS-95 mission. Also in the photo are Glenn's wife, Annie, NASA astronaut Stephen Robinson, and Bob Sieck, a former shuttle launch director. Robinson was the payload commander of STS-95. Glenn's launch aboard an Atlas rocket took with it the hopes of an entire nation and ushered in a new era of space travel that eventually led to Americans walking on the moon by the end of the 1960s. Glenn soon was followed into orbit by Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra and Gordon Cooper. Their fellow Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Grissom flew earlier suborbital flights. Deke Slayton, a member of NASA's original Mercury 7 astronauts, was grounded by a medical condition until the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975. Shuttle Discovery currently is being prepared for display at Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum, Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Va. Photo credit: Cory Huston