Though never used in combat, it was used to launch the Mariner? space probes used to study Mercury, Venus, and Mars (1962-1973); and to launch all but the first two the Mercury missions (1962-1963). The Mercury missions resulted in the first American to orbit the earth (Lt. Col. [John H. Glenn Jr.]?) in February of 1962. (Major [Yuri A. Gargarin]?, a Soviet cosmonaut was the first human in orbit, in April of 1961.)