John Glenn

John Glenn
Official portrait, 1990s
Chair of the Senate Governmental Affairs Committee
In office January 3, 1987 – January 3, 1995
Preceded by	William Roth
Succeeded by	William Roth
United States Senator from Ohio
In office December 24, 1974 – January 3, 1999
Preceded by	Howard Metzenbaum
Succeeded by	George Voinovich
Personal details
Born	John Herschel Glenn Jr. (1921-07-18)July 18, 1921 Cambridge, Ohio, U.S.
Died	December 8, 2016(2016-12-08) (aged 95) Columbus, Ohio, U.S.
Resting place	Arlington National Cemetery
Political party	Democratic
Spouse	Annie Castor ​ (m. 1943)​
Children	2
Education	Muskingum University (BS)
Civilian awards	Congressional Gold Medal Presidential Medal of Freedom Congressional Space Medal of Honor NASA Distinguished Service Medal
Signature
Military service
Branch/service	United States Navy United States Marine Corps
Years of service	1941–1965
Rank	Colonel
Battles/wars	World War II Chinese Civil War Korean War
Military awards	Distinguished Flying Cross (6) Air Medal (18)
Space career
NASA astronaut
Time in space	4h 55m 23s[1]
Selection	NASA Group 1 (1959)
Missions	Mercury-Atlas 6
Mission insignia
Retirement	January 16, 1964
Space career
NASA payload specialist
Time in space	9d 19h 54m[2]
Missions	STS-95
Mission insignia

John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space, and the first American to orbit the Earth, circling it three times in 1962.^[3] Following his retirement from NASA, he served from 1974 to 1999 as a U.S. Senator from Ohio; in 1998, he flew into space again at the age of 77.

Before joining NASA, Glenn was a distinguished fighter pilot in World War II, the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War. He shot down three MiG-15s, and was awarded six Distinguished Flying Crosses and eighteen Air Medals. In 1957, he made the first supersonic transcontinental flight across the United States. His on-board camera took the first continuous, panoramic photograph of the United States.

He was one of the Mercury Seven, military test pilots selected in 1959 by NASA as the nation's first astronauts. On February 20, 1962, Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission, becoming the first American to orbit the Earth, the third American and fifth person in history to be in space. He received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1962, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978, was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1990, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.

Glenn resigned from NASA in January 1964. A member of the Democratic Party, Glenn was first elected to the Senate in 1974 and served for 24 years, until January 1999. In 1998, at age 77, Glenn flew on Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-95 mission, making him the oldest person to enter Earth orbit, the only person to fly in both the Mercury and the Space Shuttle programs, and the first Member of Congress to visit space since Congressman Bill Nelson (D-FL) in 1986. Glenn, both the oldest and the last surviving member of the Mercury Seven, died at the age of 95 on December 8, 2016.