A Message from John Glenn’s Alma Mater Muskingum University

On February 20, 1962 Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission and so became the first USA citizen to orbit the Earth (as well as being, at the time, only the fifth person in space).

In 1999, NASA renamed its field center in Cleveland, Ohio, “John H. Glenn Research Center” after him. Hailed as a national hero, Glenn was reportedly deemed “too valuable” to be sent into space again by then-President John F. Kennedy.

Glenn was a true American hero, a man of courage and conviction who set an example for us all with his quiet authority and unassuming character.

Seventy-five years ago, John Glenn headed to Brown Chapel on the Muskingum College campus. “Godspeed, John Glenn. Ad astra”, tweeted NASA. During that flight, he became the earliest-born American to go to orbit. “Godspeed”, a reference to the famous sendoff that Glenn received as he blasted off in 1962 to become the first the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth.

An interview with Glenn shot in Columbus, Ohio, in 2008 captured his unending curiosity about this world we live in.

Glenn flew solo on the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission, circling the globe three times during a flight that lasted almost five hours.

Bob Sieck, a retired shuttle launch director, joined NASA two years after Glenn’s first flight but came to regard him as one of the nation’s two finest astronauts, along with Neil Armstrong.

From Muskingum’s campus, John Glenn publicly announced his decision to campaign for the United States Senate in 1973 and his decision to retire from the Senate in 1997 after representing OH for four consecutive terms.

Glenn spent more than 500 hours in training for his second mission, learning every aspect of living and working on the shuttle.

A total of 3,474 tons of paper were swept up after Glenn’s ticker tape parade in NY in March of 1962 – more than any parade since the one marking the end of World War II.

And Ohio Sen. Rob Portman tweeted, “John and Annie have been a model for Jane and me, and we send our condolences to Annie & the Glenn family at this hard time”. Glenn worked as a senator until the late 90s.

Glenn was the last of the surviving Mercury Seven. During the 25 years he represented OH, he was a chairman of the Committee on Governmental Affairs.

Soon after his birth in Cambridge, Ohio, in 1921, it became clear that Glenn had aspirations out of this world.

Glenn married his childhood sweetheart, Anna “Annie” Margaret Castor, in 1943.

But even when called a hero, Glenn was hesitant to apply that term to himself.