When John Glenn was born on July 18, 1921, humanity had barely begun to master flight. The first manned flight had occurred less than two decades ago and a flight beyond Earth’s atmosphere must have seemed more like science fiction than science reality. But four decades later that would become reality for John Glenn.
On February 20, 1962, aboard the Friendship 7 spacecraft, Glenn circled the planet three times in a nearly five-hour mission to become the first American to orbit the Earth. His success came at a pivotal time for the United States, as the country was locked in a Cold War with the Soviet Union and was up to this point losing the space race. The Soviet Union had already launched the first satellite and the first human, Yuri Gagarin, into space. Glenn’s mission restored confidence in the US space program while marking a major milestone in space exploration.
The mission represented more than national pride, however. The lessons learned from Glenn’s flight directly influenced the Gemini and Apollo programs, culminating in the Moon lading just seven years later. Throughout his life, Glenn continued to remain involved in space exploration. In 1988, at the age of 77, he returned to space aboard the Discovery, becoming the oldest person to fly in space. John Glenn’s legacy for space exploration is impactful, but it goes far beyond his three orbits of Earth. He famously described his view from space and stated, “you don’t see borders.” What he saw was one fragile planet shared by all humans and all other living creatures – and this valuable perspective might be his more important legacy of all.
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