If the United States could not reach the Soviets in space, how could they compete with them on Earth? This was the question John F. Kennedy faced in the middle of the Cold War—a dangerous time when the Soviet Union built the Berlin Wall, tested nuclear bombs more destructive than any other in history, and defeated the United States at every major milestone in space. The race to the heavens seemed like a struggle for survival—and America was losing. On February 20, 1962, when John Glenn launched into orbit with Friendship 7, his mission was not only to circle the planet; it was to quell the fears of the free world and renew the United States' sense of confidence. Mercury Rising recreates the tension and excitement of a journey that changed the course of the space race and set the United States on the path to the moon. Based on new archival sources, personal interviews, and Glenn's unpublished notes, Mercury Rising reveals how the astronaut's heroics lifted the nation's hopes in what Kennedy termed as an 'hour of maximum danger.'