John Herschel Glenn Jr. was an American aviator, engineer, astronaut, and United States Senator from Ohio. In 1962 he became the first American to orbit the Earth, circling three times. Before joining NASA, he was a distinguished fighter pilot in both World War II and Korea, with five Distinguished Flying Crosses and eighteen clusters.

Lived: Jul 18, 1921 – Dec 08, 2016 (age 95)
Height: 5′ 10″ (1.79 m)
Spouse: Annie Glenn (m. 1943)
Space agency: NASA
Education: Muskingum University
Children: John David Glenn (Son) · Carolyn Ann Glenn (Daughter)

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Highlights

• 1939: After graduating from New Concord High School in 1939, he studied Engineering at Muskingum College.


• 1943: On April 6, 1943, Glenn married his childhood sweetheart, Anna Margaret Castor (b. 1920).


• 1959: He was one of the “Mercury Seven” group of military test pilots selected in 1959 by NASA to become America’s first astronauts and fly the Project Mercury spacecraft.


• 1962: On February 20, 1962, Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission and became the first American to orbit the Earth and the fifth person in space, after cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov and the sub-orbital flights of Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom.


• 2000: In 2000, Glenn received the U.S. Senator John Heinz Award for Greatest Public Service by an Elected or Appointed Official, an award given out annually by Jefferson Awards.


• 2013: With the death of Scott Carpenter on October 10, 2013, Glenn became the last surviving member of the Mercury Seven.