John Glenn, The First Astronaut To Orbit Earth, Dies

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

Former Senator John Glenn, the first American astronaut to go around Earth and the last survivor of the legendary Mercury 7 space program, died Thursday at age 95 in Columbus, Ohio.

Glenn became a hero in February 1962 when inside the Friendship 7 capsule Mercury managed to be the first American to orbit the planet, which was a victory for the United States after the Soviet Union had overtaken it in that feat. the journey of cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin in 1961.

The journey around Earth lasted 4 hours and 55 minutes, in which he was at some risk when it was detected that the capsule seemed to have weakened and was in danger of incineration upon re-entry into the atmosphere. In the end everything went well.

After his successful career at NASA he entered the world of politics within the Democratic Party and held the position of senator for Ohio for 24 years.

At age 77, Glenn returned to space to make history again by becoming the first retiree to make a journey in space and the oldest person to do so.

Glenn was the last survivor of the Mercury 7 program, the group made up of the first seven astronauts in the United States who carried out manned space missions between May 1961 and 1963.

An odyssey told in the famous book The Right Stuff by writer Tom Wolfe and in the 1983 movie of the same title, in which actor Ed Harris plays Glenn.

Before becoming a space legend, he had served as a fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War, only to later become a test pilot. In that capacity he achieved a record for transcontinental speed.

According to the AP agency, the exastronaut died at James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, where he had been hospitalized for more than a week, although the reasons why he had been admitted are unknown.

John had been married to his now widow Annie since 1943, and had two children with her: Carolyn and John David.