In 1962, John Glenn made history by being he first American to orbit the Earth. Glenn was part of select group of astronauts dubbed the "Mercury Seven" because they would be the seven men who would fly on the Mercury spacecraft in 1962. Glenn's Mercury mission launched on Feb. 20, 1962 and made three orbits of Earth spending about five hours in space on his spacecraft named "Friendship 7". After leaving NASA, John Glenn became a U.S. senator from Ohio and served for 25 years. In 1984, Glenn flirted with the idea of being president, but with drew his campaign before the primary.
In 1998, at 77, Senator John Glenn became the oldest person to fly in space. 36 years after his first flight, the astronaut flew aboard the space shuttle Discovery with six other astronauts. The nine-day mission supported a variety of research including the deployment of the Spartan Solar Observing Spacecraft and the Hubble Space Telescope. While in flight, Glenn spent much time participating in tests of how his body would respond to the micro-gravity environment. Doctors followed Glenn's health very closely since 1959 and used the information to this data to understand how spaceflight effected the elderly. At age 41, aboard the "Friendship 7", Glen orbited the earth 3 times, at age 77 he orbited the earth 134 times. In 1998, Bill Clinton took the opportunity in his State of the Union address to wish Senator John Glenn "Godspeed" on his upcoming flight.
"And this October, a true American hero, a veteran pilot of 149 combat missions and one 5-hour space flight that changed the world, will return to the heavens. Godspeed, John Glenn. [Applause] John, you will carry with you America's hopes. And on your uniform, once again, you will carry America's flag, marking the unbroken connection between the deeds of America's past and the daring of America's future."On December 8, 2016 John Glenn made his final flight to the heavens. The Astronaut and Senator died in Columbus Ohio at the age of 95. Godspeed, John Glenn.
http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=56280
https://www.nasa.gov/audience/forstudents/5-8/features/nasa-knows/who-is-john-glenn-58.html
https://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/bios/shuttle_mission.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/08/us/john-glenn-dies.html
http://www.gettyimages.com.au/detail/news-photo/president-bill-clinton-greets-senator-john-glenn-at-johnson-news-photo/51638646#president-bill-clinton-greets-senator-john-glenn-at-johnson-space-14-picture-id51638646
No comments:
Post a Comment