John Glenn, First American to Orbit the Earth, Dies at 95

John Glenn, the primary American to orbit the Earth, died in the present day (Dec. eight). He was 95.

The previous astronaut and U.S. senator was being hospitalized on the Wexner Medical Heart at Ohio State College in Columbus when he died. In 2014, Glenn suffered a minor stroke, affecting his imaginative and prescient, after present process heart-valve alternative surgical procedure.

"We're saddened by the lack of Sen. John Glenn, the primary American to orbit Earth. A real American hero. Godspeed, John Glenn. Advert astra," NASA wrote on Twitter. [John Glenn: An American Hero's Greatest Moments]

John Glenn, seen sitting beside his Friendship 7 Mercury capsule earlier than his historic flight in 1962, died on Dec. eight, 2016.

Credit score: NASA

John Glenn's Mercury mission was the primary American area flight world wide.

Credit score: Karl Tate, SPACE.com Contributor

The final of NASA's unique seven astronauts to die, Glenn circled the world 3 times on board the Mercury capsule "Friendship 7" earlier than splashing down within the Pacific Ocean on Feb. 20, 1962.

"Zero-g and I really feel fantastic," Glenn reported to the bottom 5 minutes into the flight. "Oh, that view is super."

Thirty-six years later, on the age of 77, he returned to orbit aboard the area shuttle Discovery, turning into the oldest particular person, worldwide, to fly into area.

A colonel within the U.S. Marine Corps who flew fight flights throughout World Warfare II and the Korean Warfare, Glenn served for 25 years as a U.S. senator representing his house state of Ohio. He was honored with the Congressional Gold Medal and the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the best civilian honors awarded by america.

Glenn was named an astronaut in April 1959, two years after he set a transcontinental pace report flying a jet from California to New York in three hours and 23 minutes. On his historic flight in 1962, Glenn made three revolutions of the Earth on board the Mercury-Atlas 6 orbital mission in simply 4 hours and 55 minutes.

"Throughout my [three-orbit] flight, I used to be in a position to carry out fundamental analysis experiments, which helped contribute to what we learn about people in area," Glenn instructed me in November 1996. "The first scientific goal of my [Mercury flight] was to find out the response of the physique's senses to weightlessness."

The historic mission, which got here after orbital missions by two Russian cosmonauts and sub-orbital launches by two of Glenn's fellow Mercury astronauts, additionally established america as a contender for the primary time within the area race with the Soviet Union. [In Photos: John Glenn, First American in Orbit]

"There was a powerful feeling on this nation that we wanted to surpass the Soviet's advances and regain our place on the high," Glenn instructed me. "It's exhausting to think about the energy of these convictions in the present day — particularly with the collapse of the Soviet Union — however you possibly can guess they have been a powerful motivator for America."

The profitable flight made Glenn an on the spot hero. Deemed too worthwhile to the nation to danger flying on one other rocket, Glenn served as an advisor to NASA till 1964.

"Since I used to be not going to be on energetic flight standing, I stayed on with NASA for a few years to plow my expertise again into this system after which went on to different pursuits," Glenn mentioned.

He retired from the Marine Corps the next 12 months to run for the Senate.

Successful his third marketing campaign in 1974, Glenn served for 4 phrases, turning into chief creator of the 1978 Nonproliferation Act, chairing the Authorities Affairs Committee from 1978 till 1995, and sitting on the International Relations and Armed Providers committees and the Particular Committee on Growing older.

In 1984, he ran and misplaced within the Democratic main to be a candidate for the President of america.

On Feb. 20, 1997, 35 years to the day after he first orbited the Earth, Glenn introduced that he would retire from the Senate. Eleven months later, NASA confirmed his return to area to review how microgravity impacts ageing.

"I am proud to have been a part of the start of America's area program, and for sure I am excited to be again and I'm honored and privileged," mentioned Glenn at a Jan. 16, 1998 press convention asserting his second flight. "The vital factor is the chance that this provides to take us in some new instructions with analysis. I believe that's actually what we're kicking off."

For nearly 9 days, from Oct. 29 by Nov. 7, 1998, Glenn and his six STS-95 crew mates on board Discovery accomplished 134 orbits, conducting 80 medical and materials analysis experiments, and deploying and retrieving a free-flying science platform.

John Glenn works with an experiment contained in the Spacehab module aboard area shuttle Discovery in November 1998.

Credit score: NASA

On his contact down, Glenn had logged a complete of 9 days, two hours and 39 minutes off the planet on his two history-making spaceflights.

"I took a little bit lapel pin that I had on my first flight — took it up once more on [the space shuttle] flight — and that has been considered one of my prized possessions as a result of it has been on each flights together with me," Glenn instructed me in 1998.

John Herschel Glenn, Jr., was born in Cambridge, Ohio on July 18, 1921. He attended Muskingum Faculty and started flying classes, incomes his pilot's license in 1941. Glenn left faculty earlier than incomes his diploma (although he was awarded a Bachelor of Science in engineering from Muskingum in 1962) and enlisted within the Naval Aviation Cadet Program. He was commissioned within the Marine Corps in 1943.

Bestowed with the Distinguished Flying Cross and NASA Distinguished Service Medal, amongst many different awards, Glenn was inducted into the Nationwide Aviation Corridor of Fame in 1976, the Worldwide House Corridor of Fame in 1977 and the U.S. Astronaut Corridor of Fame in 1990.

The NASA John H. Glenn Analysis Heart at Lewis Area in Cleveland, Ohio was renamed in his honor in 1999. Two Ohio roadways bear his identify, as do a minimum of eight grade faculties situated throughout the nation.

In 2014, the U.S. Navy christened the USNS John Glenn, a cellular touchdown platform, for his service as an aviator and astronaut. In 2006, Ohio State College based the John Glenn Faculty of Public Affairs. In Might 2016, the nation's second worldwide airport was renamed for John Glenn in Columbus, Ohio.

Blue Origin, a industrial spaceflight firm based by Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos, named its orbital-class launch automobile the "New Glenn" in September 2016.

In 1999, Glenn collaborated with Nick Taylor to creator his biography, "John Glenn: A Memoir" (Bantam Books). He was portrayed within the 1983 function movie "The Proper Stuff" by actor Ed Harris, within the 2016 ABC restricted occasion collection "The Astronaut Wives Membership" by Sam Reid, and within the upcoming Fox function movie "Hidden Figures" by Glen Powell.

In March 2001, Glenn took a flip taking part in himself, making a cameo look on the NBC TV sitcom "Frasier."

In 1943, Glenn married the previous Annie Margaret Castor of New Harmony, Ohio. Collectively they'd a son, Dave and daughter, Lyn and two grandchildren.

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