AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2017 - 34

PILOT BRIEFING
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Astronaut John Glenn dies at 95
First American in orbit, decorated pilot, senator
BY JIM MOORE

JOHN GLENN, who captured the nation's imagination
and became a hero for the ages in 1962 as the first
American to orbit, and who was the last surviving
Mercury astronaut, died December 8, 2016, at age 95.
Glenn was among a very small number of
American aerospace pioneers whose feats made
them household names for generations, comparable in that regard to Charles A. Lindbergh, or
the Wright brothers. His Friendship 7 mission on
February 20, 1962, lasted five hours, but its impact
inspired millions.
"No flier since Lindbergh had received such a
cheering welcome," The New York Times reported
in an obituary. "Bands played. People cried with
relief and joy. Mr. Glenn was invited to the White
House by President John F. Kennedy and paraded
up Broadway and across the land. A joint meeting
of Congress stood and applauded vigorously as Mr.
Glenn spoke at the Capitol."
Glenn was already a decorated war hero by the
time, at age 40, he climbed aboard the tiny capsule
that would hurtle him into history. He took flying
lessons while studying chemistry at Muskingum

College in his Ohio hometown. After the December 7, 1941, attack on Pearl
Harbor, he signed up for the Naval Aviation Cadet Training Program and
would later join the Marine Corps. He flew 59 combat missions in the
Pacific, earning two Distinguished Flying Crosses and other decorations.
Glenn flew another 90 combat missions (and earned more decorations)
during the Korean War, and later served as a test pilot. Another of Glenn's
firsts was piloting the first supersonic, transcontinental flight in 1957.
Glenn resisted being called a hero. "I figure I'm the same person who
grew up in New Concord, Ohio, and went off through the years to participate in a lot of events of importance," Glenn said. "What got a lot of
attention, I think, was the tenuous times we thought we were living in
back in the Cold War. I don't think it was about me. All this would have
happened to anyone who happened to be selected for that flight."
Glenn would continue his distinguished career in private industry
and public office, representing Ohio in the U.S. Senate from 1974 through
1999. Toward the end of his tenure in Congress, he had one last space
shot, on October 29, 1998. Glenn, then 77, was aboard the space shuttle
Discovery as it launched from Cape Canaveral before cheering crowds.
Glenn is survived by his wife of 73 years, Anna, whom he always
called "Annie"; two children; and two grandsons.
A pilot through and through, Glenn was an AOPA member who flew
his Beechcraft Baron until very late in life. In 2012, shortly before the fiftieth anniversary of Friendship 7, a New York Times reporter interviewed
the then-90-year-old Glenn and found the retired senator and astronaut
with a sharp, clear mind, even regretting he had sold the airplane the
month before. Glenn made very clear to that reporter that his pilot certificate remained valid.
EMAIL james.moore@aopa.org

34 | AOPA PILOT February 2017

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of AOPA Pilot Magazine - February 2017