John Glenn, who was the first American to orbit Earth and later as the world's oldest astronaut, and also had a long career as a US senator, died in Ohio on Dec 8 at age 95.
Glenn, the last surviving member of the original seven American "Right Stuff" Mercury astronauts, died.
His three laps around the world in the Friendship 7 capsule on Feb. 20, 1962, forged a powerful link between the former fighter pilot and the Kennedy-era quest to explore outer space as a "New Frontier.”
President Barack Obama in 2012 awarded Glenn the nation's highest civilian honour, the
Presidential Medal of Freedom.
President-elect Donald Trump said on Twitter the United States had lost "a great pioneer of air and space in John Glenn. He was a hero and inspired generations of future explorers.”
He was the third of seven astronauts in NASA's solo-flight Mercury program to venture into space.
Glenn's astronaut career and role as a fighter pilot in World War Two and the Korean War, helped launch him to the US Senate in 1974, where he represented his home state of Ohio for 24 years as a moderate Democrat.
He retired from the Senate in 1999.
36 years after his maiden space voyage, Glenn became America's first geriatric astronaut on Oct. 29, 1998.
He was 77 when he blasted off as a mission specialist aboard the shuttle Discovery.
About John Glen- Full name: John Herschel Glenn Jr.
- Born: July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio.
- Adjunct professor at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs.
- First American to orbit the earth.
- Oldest astronaut in history of mankind.
