John Flenn Research Paper

To boldly go where NO other 77-year old has gone before. John Glenn was the first American to EVER orbit the earth, and later on he was the oldest man to EVER go into space! John Glenn had a very interesting life. He was an astronaut, he served in the military, he was a husband, father, grandfather, and even a senator. His early life was very important to him, being an astronaut was a big part of his life, and being a Marine Aviator was something that showed his true patriotism. When John Glenn was just two years old, he moved to New Concord, Ohio. There his father ran a plumbing business. As he lived in that town he developed an early interest in science. Particularly to aeronautics. He also developed a new strong sense of patriotism. Which
lead him to serve his country later on. He graduated from New Concord high school. He then went to Muskingum College. He then joined the American war effort in 1942. There he entered the Naval Aviation Cadet Program. He finished that program in the next year. He was then deployed as a marine fighter pilot, in the South Pacific. Also in his early life he met the woman who later on in his life became his wife. John Glenn’s life as an astronaut is one that went down in history.
He was in one of the first groups of astronauts. It was called the “Mercury Seven”. It was called that because it was seven men on the Mercury spacecraft. The first thing that John Glenn did that went down into history was, he was the first American to ever orbit the Earth. At that time two Americans had already been sent into space but none of them had orbited the Earth. The “Mercury Seven” launched on February 20, 1962. John Glenn renamed the group of astronauts to “Friendship 7”. They orbited the Earth 3 times. It took them about five hours, and it proved that the spacecraft was successful, and it helped NASA learn more. Then later on in John Glenn’s life in 1998 he announced his second flight. It was 36 years after his first flight. It was the longest time between any two space flights ever. NASA wanted John Glenn to be in this flight, because they wanted to see/study how space affects the elderly. Doctor’s had been following John Glenn’s health ever since he had first become an astronaut. There were six other astronauts on this space flight. They flew on a STS-95 mission of the space shuttle Discovery. That flight made John Glenn the oldest man to ever fly into space, at the age of
77. John Glenn was a man of honor while he was a Marine Aviator, and in the Military. He flew around 150 combat missions in WWII, and the Korean War. He received the Distinguished Flying Cross six different times, for his bravery during WWII. After that he enrolled in U.S. Navy Pilot School, in Patuxent River, Maryland. He then joined the Naval Air Test Center’s Staff of flyers. There he set the a new speed record for travelling from Los Angeles to New York. It was called the “Project Bullet”. That flight took him 3 hours and 23 minutes. John Glenn had a very intriguing life, where he was a veteran, senator, husband, father, grandfather, astronaut, and overall someone people looked up to. He inspired so many people in his lifetime with all of his accomplishments. John Glenn was a man worth remembering.