John Glenn Jr. was assigned to the NASA space task group at Langley Research Center in April 1959 after his selection as a Project Mercury Astronaut. The space task group was moved to Houston and became part of the NASA Manned Spacecraft Center in 1962. Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth aboard his Mercury space capsule and returned to space recently aboard the Space Shuttle STS-95, becoming the oldest person in space. He has logged over 218 hours in space.