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John Herschel Glenn Jr. was born on July 18, 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio. He was born to John Herschel Glenn Sr. and Teresa (née Sproat).
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In April 1959, although he didn't have the required college degree, he was chosen as one of the original group of seven astronauts by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) for Project Mercury.
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John Glenn became the fifth person in space but the first to orbit the Earth three times. He was also the third American in space.
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While the mission was giong on there was a ground indication that Glenn's heat shield had come loose. This caused concern because if the heat shield was loose it could possibly fail during re-entry causing his capsule to burn up. Flight controllers had Glenn keep his retrorocket pack on over the shield to try to keep it in place. His splashdown was a success. It was later determined that the ground indicator was faulty.
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John Glenn defeated fellow Democrat Howard Metzenbaum and faced Ralph Perk, the Republican mayor of Cleveland in the general election for the Senate. He defeated Ralph Perk, beginning a Senate career that would last until 1998.
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Three decades, after resigning from the astronaut corps, he lifted off for the second time on October 29, 1998, on the Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-95, to study what space flight does to the elderly. At the age of 77, he became the oldest person in space.
