John Herschel Glenn Jr, sometimes referred to John Glenn, was born in July 1921 in the United States of America.
He was a United States Marine Corps aviator, astronaut, engineer, politician and businessman.
He would make history throughout his life, as he was the first American to orbit the Earth, and he even circled it three times.
Glenn was also the oldest person to travel to space, something he did when he was 77 years old.
Continue reading and discover all these amazing facts about John Glenn
John Glenn Facts
1. Glenn’s career was interesting and unique
In 1942, Glenn decided to join the U.S Naval Reserve. A year later, in 1943, he joined the U.S Marine Corps.
He managed to fly around in 59 missions during World War II, mainly in the South Pacific area.
Also, in the Korean War, Glenn managed to fly 90 missions, a record not many others can beat, an interesting fact about John Glenn.
2. John Glenn is one of the most recognized astronauts on earth
John Glenn is famous not only in the United States but in the world as well. He was the first astronaut to orbit Earth, but his personality led him towards a more political career, and he served as a U.S Senator from Ohio.
Glenn went from being a backup pilot and astronaut to being selected as the pilot who would go on the first orbital flight aboard the spacecraft Friendship 7, back in 1962.
Even though his mission on Friendship 7 was considered as a national triumph, Glenn later explained that during his time in space, there were a lot of problems that could have turned out to be disasters, but luckily, he managed to solve them.
For instance, he had a bad time when working with the automatic control system since there was a failure on it, and the system even went out at the end of Glenn’s first orbit.
Glenn had to fly the capsule he was in manually in order to survive this episode. An interesting fact about John Glenn is thatA many months later he explained that he even went to the second and third orbit manually, and, eventually, he had to do the re-entry on manual as well.
There was another issue that caught his attention as well, the spacecraft’s heat shield was loose which would mean that both Glenn and his spacecraft would catch fire whenever he would re-entry the Earth.
He made a very dramatic re-entrance on the Earth and everybody seemed scared and relieved that he had managed to survive this ordeal.
3. Glenn was truly loyal to his country
John Glenn loved his country, and this can be seen in the way he chose to direct his career. Once the war was over, he still served the United States’ Marine Corps, a position he truly cared about.
4. Glenn became a National Hero and everybody loved him
Glenn will always remain in the heart of his fellow countrymen because he achieved incredible things for his country.
What’s more, he managed to have a career during a very challenging time, as the technology wasn’t as good as it is nowadays.
5. John Glenn has also been portrayed on some films
An interesting fact about John Glenn is that he was so loved in his country that he was the inspiration behind some of the most famous astronauts’ movies.
In 1983, a movie called The Right Stuff was released. The movie was based on a book written by Tom Wolfe.
During his life, Glenn attended different celebrity parties and he became involved in the Hollywood scene whenever a new astronaut movie was released.
6. Glenn’s political life was also important to him
Glenn was very active in the Ohio political scene. He was also in favor of bills that would protect the environment.
In 1974, he became a member of the Senate and he was the head of all of Ohio’s counties. He was then re-elected in 1980, and he was seen as a really efficient Senator by his voters.
In addition, he was in the Senate for another term in 1986, winning his seat with a substantial majority of votes. In 1992, he became the Senator of Ohio for a fourth consecutive time. This meant that for the first time in history, a Senator will be in office for more than three terms, an interesting John Glenn fact.
He was often consulted whenever the Senate needed a technical and scientific expertise, and he won the respect of all the other Senators who would share seats with him, as he was a hardworking man.
7. Glenn was the oldest human being to be in space
In 1998, when John Glenn was 77 years old, he achieved his latest mission.
For 9 days he would be on space inside the space shuttle orbiter called Discovery.
This meant that Glenn became the oldest human being to venture into space and to complete a mission.
This was an important step as well, for both NASA and Glenn, as he participated in a series of tests in order to determine how the aging process would be affected on space.
It also created a special bond with his own time and past as a Senator, because when he was on his seat he would always focus his work on the aging population of Ohio and his country.
Conclusion
John Glenn, the American astronaut and Senator, died in December 2016 in Ohio.
His life was filled with adventurous stories that led him to Korea, China, Hawaii, and of course, space.
He was awarded several accolades during his career and he managed to make the first transcontinental flight across the United States, something that really caught his attention and his love for flying.
He was also a prolific photographer, and he managed to merge all of his passions during his travels.
Glenn had an on-board camera that took the first panoramic and continuous shots of the United States, something that had never been done before him.
The world was filled with sadness when Glenn died as he was someone that everybody loved and respected.
I hope that this article on John Glenn facts was helpful! If you are interested, visit the Historical People Facts Page!
