John Glenn (photo posted later in the article) - the first American to circle the globe, made history for the second time when, at 77, he became the oldest person to travel in space. But before the astronaut was recognized as a national hero, he risked his life for his country more than once.
Biography
John Herschel Glenn Jr. was born on 1921-18-07 in Cambridge, Ohio, to John and Teresa Sproat Glenn. While playing in the school orchestra, he met Anna Margaret Castor, with whom he later connected his fate. After high school, he attended Muskingum College, where he received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Glenn became a cadet at the Naval Aviation School. During World War II, he made 59 sorties.
Glenn then served as a flight instructor in Corpus Christi, Texas. He made 90 sorties in Korea, shooting down three MiGs during the last nine days of fighting.
Following this, John Glenn graduated from test pilot school at the US Naval Testing Center and then went on to serve as a project officer on a number of aircraft. For two and a half years he attended classesat the University of Maryland while working in the Fighter Design Division of the US Naval Aeronautics Bureau, the predecessor of the Bureau of Naval Weapons.
In July 1957, John set a speed record by flying from Los Angeles to New York in 3 hours and 23 minutes. It was the first flight across the country at an average speed that exceeded the speed of sound.
Astronaut John Glenn was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and several other military awards six times. He and his wife have two children.
Squad "Mercury 7"
In the spring of 1959, Glenn was selected to be a member of Project Mercury 7. He became part of the first astronauts and was the stand-in for the first two Americans in space, Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Griss.
At the time, the United States was in a space race with the Soviet Union. Yuri Gagarin was the first to launch into outer space on April 12, 1961, beating Alan Shepard by less than a month. He was also the first person to orbit the Earth and complete a full orbit around the Earth.
John Glenn: 1962 Historic Flight
February 20, 1962, the United States showed that they have the same character as their rivals. On Shepard and Griss's previous flight into space, their ship did not make a full circle around the Earth - John Glenn did. The flight duration was almost 5 hours. Aboard the capsule, he circumnavigated the Earth three times, traveling at speeds in excess of 27,350 km/h at a maximum altitude of 260 km.
But his waywas not without danger. After the first orbit, mechanical problems with the automatic control system required John to manually control the aircraft. The sensors also showed that the thermal shield that was supposed to protect the astronauts from the lethal temperatures created by re-entry was missing. In order to protect himself when returning to Earth, Glenn kept a package containing a brake propulsion system. A re-examination of the control system showed that the indicator was faulty. The shield was fine, but the feeling was undeniably painful.
Political career
John Glenn retired from the Marine Corps in 1965 with the rank of Colonel. For ten years he worked as a business director. In 1974 he was elected to the US Senate. The Ohio Democrat campaigned zealously for funding for science, education, and space exploration. In 1984, he made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. Glenn served as a senator until 1999.
During his time in the Senate, he became the main author of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Act of 1978, was Chairman of the Government Affairs Committee from 1987 to 1995, served on the Foreign Affairs and Armed Services Committees and on the Select Committee on Aging.
Second flight
Despite his advanced age, John Glenn is not done with the space program. October 29, 1998, while still a senator, he once again went down in history,flying on the shuttle Discovery to become the oldest space traveler. The flight lasted nine days. Glenn worked as a payload specialist and participated in experiments that were supposed to test how his 77-year-old body would cope with weightlessness. The ship also launched the SPARTAN satellite, designed to study the solar wind, and equipment for the upcoming maintenance of the Hubble telescope. During the flight, the shuttle circled the Earth 134 times, covering 5.8 million km in 213 hours and 44 minutes.
Glenn's participation in the nine-day mission has been criticized by parts of the space community as a political favor given to Glenn by President Clinton. However, the flight of an astronaut provided valuable information in studies of the effect of weightlessness and other aspects of space flight on the same person at two moments of his life, separated by 36 years, which today is the longest interval between space flights of the same person. Glenn's involvement provided information on the effects of flight and weightlessness on the elderly. Shortly before the launch, the researchers learned that he had been removed from one of the two main experiments (regarding melatonin) because he did not meet one of the medical conditions. But John took part in two other experiments to monitor sleep and use protein.
In 2012, Glenn received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He was also involved in the decommissioning of the Space Shuttle, although he was critical of the termination of the program leading to a delay in research.
AlthoughGlenn's second flight into space was significantly different from the first, both of which were historic, record-breaking missions. However, most Americans will always remember him as the first American to orbit the Earth.
John Glenn Family
Glenn and Annie Castor first met - literally - in a playpen. In New Concord, Ohio, their parents were friends. When families got together, children played.
John - future Navy fighter pilot, future ace and test pilot, future astronaut - was a profitable match from the very beginning. He ended up becoming America's most desirable man during the space race, but what was it like to be a young John Glenn in New Concord?
Annie Castor was a bright, caring, talented, generous spirit. But she could speak with great difficulty. Her stuttering was so severe that it was determined to be an 85% disability, as she was unable to speak a word 85% of the time.
When she tried to read a poem in elementary school, she was laughed at. Annie couldn't speak on the phone. She couldn't talk to her friends.
And John Glenn loved her.
Military pilot's wife
As a boy, he realized that people who did not understand her because of her stuttering were missing the opportunity to recognize a rare and wonderful girl.
They were married on April 6, 1943. As a military wife, she found life moving around the country can be extremely difficult. She is in department storeswandered through unfamiliar aisles, trying to find the right department, not daring to ask anyone for help. In a taxi, she had to write to the driver because she couldn't say her destination out loud. In restaurants, she simply pointed to items on the menu.
A wonderful musician, Annie played the church organ in every parish she and John moved in to make new friends. She was afraid to use the phone, as it was very difficult for her to pronounce "hello". Annie was terrified of situations when she would need to call a doctor. Will she find the words to communicate the misfortune?
For a pack of gum
Glenn, as a naval aviator, going on a regular combat mission during World War II and during the Korean War, each time said goodbye the same way. “I only go to the corner store for a pack of gum,” said John Glenn. The wife always answered: “Only for a short time.”
In February 1962, when the whole world waited with bated breath for the launch of the Atas rocket with Glenn on board, the couple said goodbye in the same way. And in 1998, when, at the age of 77, he returned to space aboard the shuttle Discovery. Those were tense moments. What if something happens and their life together comes to an end?
She knew what he would say to her before boarding the shuttle. So he did, and this time he gave her a gift - a pack of chewing gum. She wore it in her breast pocket near her heart until John got home.
Miraculous cure
Many times in her life Annie tried to cure her stuttering. Nonewas able to help her. But in 1973, in Virginia, she found a doctor who ran an intensive program that she and John hoped would help her. Annie went there. The miracle that the couple had been waiting for all this time finally happened. At the age of 53, for the first time, she spoke not in short, staccato, tormented bursts, but could speak clearly.
John, hearing her speak confidently and clearly for the first time, fell to his knees to offer a prayer of thanksgiving. Since then, she has been a regular public speaker and makes sure to stand up to say a few words at Glenn's events.
And once she takes the floor, look into her husband's eyes.
