Former Astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn has died at the age of 95.


Life and times of John Glenn

The war hero was the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth and one of the most successful politicians on Capitol Hill

Provided by FOX News

Glenn became a national hero in 1962 when he became the first American to orbit the Earth. Glenn was the third U.S. astronaut in space and was the last survivor of the original Mercury 7 astronauts.

Hank Wilson with the John Glenn School of Public Affairs told the Associated Press that Glenn died Thursday afternoon at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio.

The Ohio Democrat got into politics after his career with NASA, and spent 24 years as a U.S. Senator from Ohio.  Glenn briefly made a run for president in 1984. He returned to space in 1998, at age 77, aboard space shuttle Discovery.

 

 

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