Biography
John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 β December 8, 2016) was an American Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the third American in space, and the first American to orbit the Earth, circling it three times in 1962. Following his retirement from NASA, he served from 1974 to 1999 as a U.S. Senator from Ohio; in 1998, he flew into space again at the age of 77.
Before joining NASA, Glenn was a distinguished fighter pilot in World War II, the Chinese Civil War and the Korean War. He shot down three MiG-15s, and was awarded six Distinguished Flying Crosses and eighteen Air Medals. In 1957, he made the first supersonic transcontinental flight across the United States. His on-board camera took the first continuous, panoramic photograph of the United States.
He was one of the Mercury Seven, military test pilots selected in 1959 by NASA as the nation's first astronauts. On February 20, 1962, Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission, becoming the first American to orbit the Earth, the third American and fifth person in history to be in space. He received the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1962, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978, was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1990, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.
Glenn resigned from NASA in January 1964. A member of the Democratic Party, Glenn was first elected to the Senate in 1974 and served for 24 years, until January 1999. In 1998, at age 77, Glenn flew on Space Shuttle Discovery's STS-95 mission, making him the oldest person to enter Earth orbit, the only person to fly in both the Mercury and the Space Shuttle programs, and the first Member of Congress to visit space since Congressman Bill Nelson (D-FL) in 1986. Glenn, both the oldest and the last surviving member of the Mercury Seven, died at the age of 95 on December 8, 2016.
Filmography
all 16
self 14
Movies 11
TV Shows 5
USS Iowa (2023)
The Real Right Stuff (2020)
Apollo: The Forgotten Films (2019)
Space Men (2016)
Conquering Space: The Moon and Beyond (2005)
The American President (2000)
John Glenn: American Hero (1998)
John F. Kennedy: A Personal Story (1996)
Frasier (1993)
Star Trek: 25th Anniversary Special (1991)
Korea: The Unknown War (1988)
Spaceflight (1985)
America Remembers John F. Kennedy (1983)
John F. Kennedy: Years of Lightning, Day of Drums (1966)
The Mike Douglas Show (1961)
I Refuse to Kill: He Went to War with War
Ratings
Information
Known ForActing
GenderMale
Birthday1921-07-18
Deathday2016-12-08 (95 years old)
Birth NameJohn Herschel Glenn
Birth PlaceCambridge, United States of America
ReligionPresbyterianism
Height
FatherJohn Herschel Glenn
MotherClara Sproat
CitizenshipsUnited States of America
Also Known AsMaj. John H. Glenn Jr., Sen. John Glenn Jr., Colonel John Glenn, Lt. Col. John Glenn, Sen. John Glenn, Senator John Glenn
AwardsInternational Space Hall of Fame, World War II Victory Medal, Distinguished Flying Cross, Congressional Space Medal of Honor, Theodore Roosevelt Award, Army of Occupation Medal, Hubbard Medal, NASA Distinguished Service Medal, Princess of Asturias Award for International Cooperation, National Defense Service Medal, American Campaign Medal, Asiatic-Pacific Campaign Medal, National Aviation Hall of Fame, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Air Medal, United States Astronaut Hall of Fame, Congressional Gold Medal
This article uses material from Wikipedia.
- John Glenn
- Filmography
- Information
- Related Persons