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John Glenn, Former US Astronaut and Senator, Hospitalized


VOA
8 Dec 2016

Reaching speeds of more than 17,000 miles per hour, he circled the globe three times in just under five hours in the Friendship 7 capsule.

Glenn instantly became a hero, receiving a ticker-tape parade in New York City and the Space Congressional Medal of Honor from President John Kennedy.

His experiences as a pioneer astronaut were chronicled in the book and movie 'The Right Stuff,' along with the other Mercury pilots.

Glenn also became the oldest astronaut ever, returning to space at the age of 77 on Oct. 29, 1998.

Before he went into space, Glenn already had a reputation as one of the best test pilots in the country, setting a transcontinental speed record by flying from Los Angeles to New York in three hours and 23 minutes in July 1957. It was the first transcontinental flight to average supersonic speed.

He also earned six Distinguished Flying Crosses and flew more than 150 missions as a fighter pilot in World War Two and the Korean War.

Born in Cambridge, Ohio, Glenn served in the U.S. Senate as a moderate Democrat from Ohio from 1974 to 1999.

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