Facts about John Glenn
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Before becoming an astronaut, John Glenn was a celebrated test pilot who set a transcontinental speed record in a supersonic jet aircraft.
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Friendship 7's three orbits around Earth in February 1962 made John Glenn the first American to witness four sunrises and sunsets from space during a single mission.
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Glenn's political career began when Ohio voters elected him to the U.S. Senate in 1974 at age 53, transitioning from his celebrated astronaut status to a quarter-century of legislative service.
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Two weeks before his orbital flight, John Glenn underwent intensive training in a Mercury procedures simulator at Cape Canaveral to prepare for the February 1962 mission.
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In 1939, John Glenn set a speed record by flying nonstop from Los Angeles to New York in 2 hours 45 minutes at an average speed of 571 miles per hour.
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Marine Corps pilot John Glenn flew 149 combat missions during the Korean War, earning six air medals for his aerial combat achievements.
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Ohio's John Glenn served 24 years in the U.S. Senate, representing his state from 1974 to 1999 as one of the chamber's most respected members.
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During his 1962 orbital mission, John Glenn's Friendship 7 capsule experienced a critical heat shield malfunction that NASA initially concealed from him until after reentry.
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Mercury-Atlas 6 carried John Glenn around Earth three times on February 20, 1962, making him the first American to orbit the planet.
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At age 77, John Glenn became the oldest person to fly in space aboard Space Shuttle Discovery on October 29, 1998.