Astronaut & Former US Senator Glenn Passes Away at 95

He flew a total of 149 combat missions in those two wars, earning him numerous citations and medals for valor. On July 16th 1957, he broke the transcontinental speed record, taking off from Los Alamitos Naval Air Station in California, and touching down just over 3 hours and 23 minutes later at Floyd Bennett Field in Brooklyn, New York.

The determination and single-mindedness that marked Glenn’s military and space career did not save him from misjudgments and defeat in politics. In 1959, he was tapped to join the astronaut corps and became one of NASA’s Mercury Seven, described by journalist Tom Wolfe as one of those who had “The Right Stuff”.

Glenn became a national, and world, hero.

Now 65, Ostrow can still remember where he was during Glenn’s landmark orbital mission: fifth grade, at the Whittier Elementary School on West Englewood Avenue in Teaneck. He circled the Earth three times.

After his 1962 orbit, Glenn served in an advisory role to NASA before shifting to business and public affairs.

Glenn won the Senate seat in 1974, as a Democrat representing the Midwestern state of OH, and went on to serve four consecutive terms.

At 77, he became the oldest person to ever travel in space.

For the duration of the mission, Glenn was basically turned into a lab rat. On February 20, 1962, a mere seven months before President Kennedy gave his famous Moon speech, Glenn climbed into the Friendship 7 at Cape Canaveral.

He will lie in state in the Ohio Statehouse and a memorial service is being planned at Ohio State University.

A year ago his adoptive home, Columbus, renamed its airport the John Glenn Columbus International Airport.

The Associated Press reports Glenn mentioned having lost some of his “eyesight because of macular degeneration and a small stroke”.

Glenn had a knee replacement operation in 2011 and underwent heart surgery in 2014. He is survived by his wife Annie, son John David, daughter Carolyn Ann (Lyn), and two grandchildren. They celebrated their 73rd wedding anniversary in April. Before he cleared out governmental issues, be that as it may, Glenn came back to space on the bus Discovery, turning into the most established individual to make such a voyage.