John Glenn was the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth.
He did it in 1962.
It took just 5 hours to orbit three times.
John Herschel Glenn (1921- 2016) was the first man from the USA to orbit the Earth
John Glenn in 1962
John Herschel Glenn, Jr. was born 18 July 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio. He went to primary and secondary schools in New Concord, Ohio before going to Muskingum College where he studied to be an engineer.
When he was 21, John Glenn joined the Air Force and became a fighter pilot. During World War 2 and the Korean War, he won many medals for bravery.
Then John Glenn became a test pilot. A test pilot has extra training in order to fly and test experimental new aircraft. They have specific moves they must do, called flight test technique, to test every aspect of the craft and its design.
In July 1957, he set a supersonic speed record flying from Los Angeles to New York. He was chosen to be an astronaut in 1959. On 2 February 1962 he became the first American and the second person (Russian Yuri Gargarin was the first) to orbit the earth. That flight, on Friendship 7, took just five hours and orbited the earth three times.
John Glenn ©Getty
Glenn retired on 1 January, 1965 and became a businessman. Later he was elected to the United States Senate.
In 1998, at the age of 77, John Glenn once again flew in space, aboard the Space Shuttle. He has won the NASA Distinguished Service Medal, and a Space Medal of Honor.
John Glenn died in December 2016, at the age of 95. He had two grown children and two grandchildren.
A stamp issued to commemorate the 1962 space flight © iStock
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