The man who had the right stuff

When I reached the age of 60, my thoughts were about retirement. You are familiar with the thoughts: investigating Medicare, planning vacations, spending more time with the family or maybe playing more golf, and going on hunting trips.

I then stopped to think about John H. Glenn, Jr., the astronaut who became the first American to orbit the Earth and splashed down in the Atlantic Ocean. He circled the planet three times in four hours and 55 minutes on Feb. 20, 1962.

Then, after waiting 36 years, Glenn prepared to return to space at the age of 77! He was the senior senator from Ohio at the time but was quoted as saying “I’m pleased to get out of Washington.”

Tests showed Glenn could take the stresses of the flight, and he strongly felt NASA could study the effects on an aged astronaut enduring eight days in space and three Gs on liftoff. He trained intensely for 30 days in Houston and Florida before lifting off on the Space Shuttle Discovery.

Looking at Glenn’s career, there’s no doubt he was a warrior:

• 1943 Joins the Marine Corps and serves as a fighter pilot in World War II and the Korean War.

• 1959 Joins the astronaut corps and is part of the Mercury Seven group of test pilots. Flies the Friendship 7 mission.

• 1964 Retires as an astronaut, enters Ohio politics

• 1974 Defeats Howard Metzenbaum in the Senate primary, goes on to win the seat he kept for 24 years.

Born July 18, 1921, Glenn attended New Concord High School where he played football as a center and linebacker, along with tennis and basketball. He graduated in 1939 and went on to Muskingum College to study chemistry. He played football there, too. He also earned a private pilot’s license.

When the U.S. entered World War II, Glenn quit college and enlisted as a Navy aviation cadet in March 1942. He transferred to the Marines a year later and was commissioned as a second lieutenant.

He married Annie Castor in new Concord, Ohio, on April 6, 1943. He continued his military career, eventually being promoted to major in 1952.

With those impressive credentials, one would say Glenn is a good candidate to be payload specialist even at age 77. Flying the mission made Glenn the oldest person to enter orbit, and the only person to fly in both the Mercury and Space Shuttle programs.

When the big day arrived the crew was cheered by 250,000 well-wishers, including President Bill Clinton. During the flight the crew performed more than 80 experiments, including multiple tests for Glenn to study his brain activity, heart rate and circulatory system.

During his long career Glenn received NASA’s distinguished service medal in 1962, the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in 1978, was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 1990, and received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012.

When Glenn died in 2016 at the age of 95 he was buried in Arlington National Cemetery.

A fighter pilot, astronaut, corporate executive, senator, presidential candidate and genuine American hero, John Glenn always had “the right stuff.”