Dead at 95, the f irst US astronaut to orbit Earth
JOHN Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, died last night at the age of 95.
The former US Marine was the last surviving member of the Mercury Seven group of astronauts who were at the vanguard of the US space programme.
In a triumph that put the US back in the space race with Russia, he circled the Earth in 1962 aboard a space capsule dubbed Friendship 7. At the age of 77 he was still making history – and became the oldest person to fly in space on board the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1988.
It was announced last night that he died surrounded by his family at a cancer hospital in Columbus, Ohio. President Barack Obama last night paid tributes to the former astronaut on behalf of a ‘grateful nation’.
‘When John Glenn blasted off from Cape Canaveral atop an Atlas rocket in 1962, he lifted the hopes of a nation,’ he said. ‘And when his Friendship 7 spacecraft splashed down a few hours later, the first American to orbit the Earth
‘True American hero’
reminded us that with courage and a spirit of discovery there’s no limit to the heights we can reach together. ... The last of America’s first astronauts has left us, but propelled by their example we know that our future here on Earth compels us to keep reaching for the heavens.’
President-elect Donald Trump tweeted: ‘Today we lost a great pioneer of air and space in John Glenn. He was a hero and inspired generations of future explorers. He will be missed.’
Nasa added that he was a ‘true American hero’. It added the Latin phrase ‘ad astra’ – ‘to the stars’.
Glenn entered politics after his heroism in space and spent 24 years in the US Senate as the Democratic representative for Ohio. He announced his impending retirement in 1997 – 35 years to the day after he became the first American in orbit.
The Soviet Union leaped ahead in space exploration by putting the Sputnik 1 satellite in orbit in 1957, and then launched the first man in space, cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, in 1961. After a two suborbital flights by Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom, it was up to Glenn to be the first American to orbit the Earth. He was part of the group who became known as the Original Seven and Astronaut Group 1 that piloted the manned flights of the Mercury program between 1961 and 1963. In a 1962 spaceflight he uttered one of his most famous quotes to Mission Control; ‘Zero-G and I feel fine.’
In the Second World War Glenn saw combat over the Marshall Islands and flew 59 combat missions in the South Pacific. He later went on to serve in the Korean War and in 1957 he completed the first supersonic transcontinental flight from California to New York.
More than anything, Glenn was seen as the ultimate and uniquely American space hero: a combat veteran with an easy smile, a strong marriage of 73 years to Annie and nerves of steel.