John Glenn

Hello, my name is John Glenn. You might know me as an astronaut, but my story started long before I ever reached for the stars. I was born on July 18th, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio, but I grew up in the nearby town of New Concord. From a young age, I was completely fascinated with flying. I spent hours building model airplanes and dreaming of the day I could soar through the clouds myself. My childhood best friend, Anna Margaret Castor, who I always called Annie, was right there with me, sharing my dreams. We would later get married. In 1939, I enrolled at Muskingum College to study engineering, but world events would soon set my life on a very different course.

When the United States entered World War II after the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, I felt a strong duty to serve my country. I left college in 1942 and joined a naval aviation program to become a pilot in the U.S. Marine Corps. During the war, I flew 59 combat missions in the Pacific theater, facing incredible dangers in the skies. A few years later, when the Korean War began in the early 1950s, I was called to serve again, flying many more missions. Piloting fighter jets in combat was a serious and demanding job. It taught me invaluable lessons about how to remain calm and focused under extreme pressure, and how to place absolute trust in my training, my crew, and my aircraft.

After the wars, my love for flying led me to a new and exciting career as a test pilot. In this role, it was my job to fly the newest and most advanced airplanes ever built. We were constantly pushing the limits of aviation, flying faster and higher than ever before. My most famous flight from this time happened on July 16th, 1957. I flew an F8U Crusader jet from California to New York and set a new transcontinental speed record. The mission was called Project Bullet, and I completed the journey in just 3 hours and 23 minutes. It was an incredible feeling to fly at supersonic speeds, which means I was traveling faster than the speed of sound.

By the late 1950s, the world was captivated by a new frontier: outer space. The United States and the Soviet Union were in a 'Space Race,' competing to be the first to achieve major milestones in space exploration. To lead America's efforts, a new government agency called NASA was formed in 1958. The very next year, in 1959, NASA announced it was searching for the nation's first astronauts. Thousands of experienced pilots applied, and I was incredibly honored to be selected as one of the original seven, a group the world came to know as the 'Mercury Seven.' We underwent some of the most difficult physical and mental training imaginable to prepare us for the unknown challenges of spaceflight. We were a team, paving the way for a new era of human exploration.

My historic moment finally arrived on February 20th, 1962. On that day, I climbed into a small space capsule that I had named 'Friendship 7.' After a powerful launch, I became the first American to orbit the Earth. It was a journey beyond my wildest dreams. I circled our planet three times, speeding along at more than 17,000 miles per hour. The view from my window was simply breathtaking. I could see entire continents and vast oceans, and I watched the sun rise and set every 90 minutes. The mission wasn't without its challenges; a warning light indicated that my spacecraft's heat shield might be loose, which could have been very dangerous during reentry. But with calm communication, the team on the ground guided me through the problem, and I splashed down safely in the Atlantic Ocean. When I returned, I was welcomed home as a national hero.

After my incredible journey into space, I still felt a strong desire to serve the public. I retired from the Marine Corps in 1965, but I knew my work wasn't finished. I decided to enter politics to serve my country in a different capacity. In 1974, the people of my home state of Ohio elected me to the United States Senate. I had the privilege of serving as a senator for 24 years. During my time in Washington, D.C., I worked on important laws and policies related to national defense, scientific research, and preventing the spread of nuclear weapons. It was a very different kind of challenge from flying a jet or a spacecraft, but I believed it was an equally important way to contribute to my country.

Even as I grew older, my fascination with space never faded. I believed there was still so much to learn, and I proposed that NASA should conduct research on how the aging process is affected by spaceflight. To my great joy, they agreed. On October 29th, 1998, at the age of 77, I returned to the stars one last time aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery. My flight made me the oldest person ever to travel in space. Seeing the magnificent, blue curve of the Earth from orbit once more was the perfect final adventure for a boy from Ohio who had always dreamed of flying.

I lived a long and adventurous life, filled with service to my country in many different ways. I lived to be 95 years old. Today, people remember me as a Marine, a record-setting test pilot, one of the first astronauts, and a U.S. Senator. I hope my story inspires you to be curious, to work hard for what you believe in, and to always keep reaching for the stars.