Former astronaut John Glenn dies at 95

He was the last surviving member of the original seven “Right Stuff” Mercury astronauts, which helped put the USA on an equal space footing with the Soviets.

The U.S space agency said on Twitter, “We are saddened by the loss of Sen”. Said Glenn in a 1995 interview: “Kennedy had indicated to NASA that he would just as soon that I was not assigned to another flight”.

John Glenn, 95, has died, Ohio State University President Michael V. Drake confirmed Thursday.

NASA immediately posted a tribute on its website to the space hero after his death was announced.

“Our nation has lost an icon and Michelle and I have lost a friend”, he said.

Glenn had been in declining health, undergoing heart-valve replacement surgery in 2014, reportedly suffering a stroke, and was admitted more than a week ago to a cancer ward, according to the college. He was the oldest former state Senator until earlier today.

Ironically, John Glenn, the Mercury astronaut most Americans can still name, was the quiet one. In October 1962 – with the Cuban Missile Crisis looming and its reminders of the dangers of possible nuclear war with the Soviet Union – astronaut Walter “Wally” Schirra, who grew up in Oradell, also orbited the earth.

(AP Photo/NASATV, File). FILE – In a Saturday, Oct. 31, 1998 image from television, U.S. Senator John Glenn, right, speaks to mission control during an experiment, while astronaut Scott Parazynski, left, helps and spanish astronaut Pedro Duque has a bi.

It was another shining moment in a career of trailblazing successes spanning decades.

Flying an F8U Crusader from NY to Los Angeles in July 1957, Glenn set the transcontinental speed record.

Glenn spent less than five hours in space on his mission, but it was historic for an astronaut, and for the world, nonetheless.

The film, an adaptation of Margot Lee Shetterly’s book about the critical mathematic work done for NASA by women of color in the 1950s and ’60s, concludes with the depiction of Glenn’s historic trip on February 20, 1962, when he was confident enough to risk his life on the accuracy of Johnson’s determination of his precise re-entry point from orbit.

A Democrat, Glenn was Ohio’s longest serving senator, serving just a bit more than 24 years until 1999.

He became a successful fighter pilot who ran 59 hazardous missions, often as a volunteer or as the requested backup of assigned pilots.

While in the Senate Glenn was politically progressive and kept a relatively low profile.

Once, in 2004, while I was on a book tour in OH, a mutual friend in Columbus organized a dinner for me and the Glenns. He served as a crew member on the space shuttle Discovery.

Glenn, 77 at the time, became the oldest human to experience space travel. It is my hope that during that time, the optimism of the New Frontier returned to Glenn’s life. He was also awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Barack Obama in 2012.

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.