John Glenn Jr

John Glenn Jr.

John Herschel Glenn, Jr. was born July 18, 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio. He is currently married to Anna Margaret Caster. Glenn has two grandchildren and two grown children. John Glenn attended attended primary and secondary schools in New Concord, Ohio, where he grew up. He also attended Muskingum College in New Concord, and received a Bachelor's of Science degree in Engineering. Glenn was also awarded the honorary Doctor of Science degree in engineering.

He entered the Naval Aviation Cadet Program in March, 1942. Glenn graduated from this program and was commissioned in the Marine Corps. During his World War II service, he flew 59 combat missions.

In April, 1959, Glenn was assigned to the NASA Space Task Group at Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. He has flown on Mercury-6 and STS-95, and has logged over 218 hours in space.

On February 20, 1962, John Glenn piloted the Friendship 7 on the first manned orbital mission of the United States. He was launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, when he successfully completed the 3-orbit flight. Friendship 7 landed approximately 800 miles southeast of Bermuda.

His most recent mission was on the Discovery, from October 29 to November 7, 1998. The purpose of this mission was to investigate the aging process, and to support a variety of research payloads, including the deployment of the Spartan solar-observing spacecraft, and the Hubble Space Telescope Orbital Systems Test Platform.

In October, 1964, Glenn was promoted to Colonel, and he retired from the Marine Corps on January 1, 1965.

Glenn was a business executive from 1965 to November, 1974, when he was elected to the United States Senate. He retired from the Senate in January, 1999.