Glenn had been hospitalized more than a week ago, but the matter was kept private until this sad announcement.


Image Via: NASA



Glenn was an American aviator, engineer, astronaut, and United States Senator from Ohio. He was one of the "Mercury Seven" group of military test pilots selected in 1959 by NASA to become America's first astronauts and fly the Project Mercury spacecraft.

On February 20, 1962, Glenn flew the Friendship 7 mission and became the first American to orbit the Earth and the fifth person in space, after cosmonauts Yuri Gagarin and Gherman Titov and the sub-orbital flights of Mercury astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom. He also flew on the space shuttle and became the oldest person to fly in space at the age of 77.

After being admitted to James Cancer Hospital at The Ohio State University, near the beginning of December, there was no announcement as to his diagnosis. His wife Annie Glenn and his children and grandchildren had joined him at the hospital.

Godspeed, John Glenn. Ad astra.