JOHN GLENN

CAREER:

1943-1948: Commissioned in the USMC; completed pilot training and flew 59 combat missions in the Marshall Islands during WWII with Marine Fighter Squadron (VMF) 155; following the War he returned to  the US and then transferred to VMF 218 flying on the North China patrol and a tour on Guam in the Pacific.

1948-1952: Instructor in advanced flight training at Corpus Christi, Texas; completed various instruction courses

1953: Flew 63 combat missions during the Korean conflict with VMF 311 and 27.  In the last nine days of fighting Glenn downed three MiGs.

1954: Attended and graduated USN Test Pilot Training School, NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.

1954-1956: Project office on a number of aircraft at the Armament Test Division of the NavalAirTestCenter at PatuxentRiver.

1956-1959: Assigned to Fighter Design Branch, Navy Bureau of Aeronautics, Washington DC, as a Project Officer; attended theUniversity of Maryland.

July 16 1957: As project officer for Project Bullet flying an F8U-1 Crusader, Glenn completed the first non-stop supersonic coast-to-coast flight across the US, setting a transcontinental speed record from Los Angeles to New York of 3 hours 23 minutes 8.1 seconds.  In his flying career, Glenn logged almost 9000 hours flying time, with 3000 hrs in jets.

ASTRONAUT ASSIGNMENTS

1959: (09.04) Selected as one of Americaa’s first seven astronauts for Project Mercury; basic astronaut training; (Jul) specialisation assignment in Mercury spacecraft crew compartment layout; basic astronaut training.

1960: Basic astronaut training; (31.12) basic and theoretical training completed; practical Mercury training commenced

1961:  Mercury training; (Jan) Shepard and Grissom were informed of their special training for the 1^st and 2^nd manned sub orbital Mercury flights, and Glenn would train as their backup; Mercury mission training; (22.02) official announcement of assignment; Mercury mission training; (May) Back Up Pilot Mercury-Redstone 3 (MR-3); (Jul) back up pilot MR-4; Mercury training; (29.11) named as Pilot MA-6, 1^st US manned orbital spaceflight; Mercury mission training

1962: Mercury training; (20.02) flew as Pilot MA-6, Friendship 7 (4 hours 55 min 23 sec) completing three orbits; 1^st American and 3^rd man to orbit the Earth; (09.03) awarded Astronaut Wings; post-flight public assignments becoming a national hero; Mercury support; (Oct) CapCom MA-8 (Schirra) at California station; Mercury support

1963: (26.01) received CB technical assignment on instrument panel layout, cockpit design and control functioning for Project Apollo; Mercury support; (May) CapCom MA-9 (Cooper) Coastal Sentry Quebec; CB technical assignments

1964:  CB technical assignments; (16.01) resigned from NASA

1964-1998: Retired USMC and pursued a business and political career (see Post-Astronaut Experience)

1998: (16.01) Named as Payload Specialist 2 (US Senator) on the crew of STS-95 for a programme of research on how weightlessness affected the body of an older person (Glenn would be 77 at the time of the flight); Shuttle PS training; (29.10-07.11) flew as PS-2 STS-95 (213 hrs 51 min); became oldest man to fly in space; retired from PS status and returned to Senate duties after the flight but  continued follow up medical experiments over the next six months.

SPACEFLIGHT RECORD

POST-ASTRONAUT EXPERIENCE

1964: (17.01) Announced plans to run for Democratic nomination for the Senate in Ohio: (26.02) slipped on a bathroom rug and received concussion, suffering disabling and persistent dizziness, nausea and ringing noises in the ear, which forced his withdrawal from campaigning upon advice from doctors; (30.03) withdrew from Senate race; decided to retire from USMC when fully fit; (27.10) promoted Colonel.

1965: (01.01) Retired USMC with rank of Colonel after 23 years distinguished active service; (Feb) became consultant to the NASA Administrator and remained based in Houston, Texas while pursuing a business career.

1965-74: Executive for soft drinks company Royal Crown Internatinal, as well as on the boards of several other corporations and made investments in hotel developments; (1970) candidate for the seat of retiring Senator Stephen M. Young, but the campaign was not organised efficiently and remained under funded, leading to Glenn’s defeat.

1974-99: US Senator (Democrat) Ohio; (Nov 1974) won seat carrying all 88 counties of Ohio; (Nov 1980) re-elected for 2^nd term; (1984) attempted to gain Democratic presidential nomination but once again his campaign was not strong enough and unfocused.  Glenn dropped out of the race prior to the convention; (Nov 1986) nominated for a 3^rd term in the Senate; (Nov 1992) became the 1^st popularly elected Senator from Ohio to gain a 4^th consecutive term. He became one of the Senate’s leading experts on technical and scientific matters and served on Armed Forces subcommittees, Select Committees on Intelligence and Aging and as a spokesman for the limitation of weapons of mass destruction as well as for space exploration.   He left the Senate on 3 January 1999 after 24 years service.

1997-98: In the spring of 1997 Glenn announced his retirement from the Senate at the end of his current (4^th) term, but he would continue public service and expressed interest in a return to space to investigate the issues of aging; held discussions with NASA about the opportunities to fly as a Payload Specialist on a Shuttle mission which led to the January 1998 announcement of his assignment to the crew of STS-95

1999-date; Following completion of his STS-95 and Senate requirements, Glenn began a new period of public life that included writing a book entitled John Glenn:  A Memoir (published in 1999) and working with the Ohio State University to establish the John Glenn Institute of Public Service and Policy in Columbus at which he intended to teach and participate in seminars.