Page 25 - Ruth Law

RUTH LAW
DAYTONA'S PIONEER AVIATOR

”FRIENDSHIP 7”

John Herschel Glenn, Jr.
1921 -

First American to Orbit Earth

John H. Glenn, Jr. was born in Cambridge, Ohio, and
developed an early interest in science and in flying. He
studied chemistry at Muskingum College and dropped out
after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Glenn enlisted in the
Naval Aviation Cadet Program and became a Marine
pilot. He flew 59 combat missions in the South Pacific
and 63 combat missions in Korea.

Glenn's experience and skill made him a logical choice for
the astronaut corps formed in 1958. In 1959, NASA
selected him as one of the first seven astronauts in the
U.S. space program.

In 1962, he rode into space and piloted Friendship 7
around the globe three times becoming the first
American to orbit the earth, in 4 hours and 55 minutes.
During reentry, burning chunks of material from his craft
flew by his window, causing him to comment, "That's a
real fireball outside." He earned a month's flight pay,
$245 for the flight.

Glenn was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of
Honor in 1978, and entered the Astronaut Hall of Fame in
1990. He later served in the U.S. Senate from 1974-
1999 and became the oldest person to fly in space, at
the age of 77, in 1998, to test the effect of weightless on
the elderly.

HER PLACE IN AVIATION HISTORY
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