American Astronaut, John Glenn Dies at Age 95

09 Dec 2016

OSR blog post

It was a sad day yesterday (November 8th, 2016) when the last of the Mercury astronauts passed away at 95 years-of-age. John Glenn lived a full life and will be sadly missed by family, friends and the American public.

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John Glenn lived a full life. He put his life on the line in World War II flying 59 combat missions. After his time spent in the military he was an early recruit into NASA’s Mercury Program and in 1962, he became the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth.

In 1964, Glenn left NASA to rejoin the military, but due to an injury he was sidelined in 1965. His integrity for all humanity then lead his career in the direction of politics. In 1970 he ran for the Senate in Ohio. Although, he didn’t manage to win the title, he did win a seat in 1974 and was elected as a Democrat. Glenn was even a presidential candidate for a brief time (1983 and 1984) but it was not meant to be and he withdrew his candidacy in 1984, remaining in the Senate until 1999.

If this wasn’t enough, in 1998 he was the oldest person to fly in space at the age of  77, when he joined the STS-95 crew aboard Discovery.

The end came for Glenn when he was admitted to Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center. His family, including his wife Annie, were by his side when he passed away. Sadly Glenn was the last of the Mercury 7 to pass away.

American hero, astronaut and political figure, John Glenn was an all-round magnetic person. His contributions to the space program and to all humanity will never be forgotten.