Next to the Cruise Center is this display of an astronaut wearing a space suit, a model of a Mercury-Atlas 6 rocket and a red and white parachute as it guides a space capsule into the sea from its final descent of 21,000 feet. Splashdown Grand Turk celebrates John Glenn’s 1962 historical three orbits around the earth in Friendship 7. After traveling 65,763 nautical miles in almost five hours, he entered the Atlantic near Grand Turk. This 3,500 foot exhibit, which opened in 2011, tells the story of Project Mercury, the Mercury 7 astronauts and highlights of NASA’s accomplishments.
