John Glenn, a former astronaut and US senator, has been hospitalized
He became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962
CNN
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Former astronaut and US Sen. John Glenn, 95, was hospitalized “more than a week ago,” according to Ohio State University spokesman Hank Wilson.
“Sen. Glenn is at The James Cancer Hospital at The Ohio State University (and) was admitted there more than a week ago,” Wilson wrote in an email. “I do not know his condition or illness or prognosis. I caution that even though Sen. Glenn is at The James that does not necessarily mean he has cancer.”
Photos: John Glenn: First American to orbit the Earth
The original Mercury 7 astronauts inspect an early design of a space module. From left are Gus Grissom, Deke Slayton, Gordon Cooper, John Glenn, Scott Carpenter, Alan Shepard and Wally Schirra. In 1962, Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth. See more images at Life.com
Photos: John Glenn: First American to orbit the Earth
Glenn does his astronaut homework in Florida in 1959. "We spent a lot of time testing and studying and re-testing systems we'd be dealing with on any craft that might eventually be sent into space," Glenn remembered. "We had never dealt with those systems before: They were invented just for this project."
Photos: John Glenn: First American to orbit the Earth
Glenn and his family visit with Vice President Lyndon Johnson, far right, two days after his historic orbital flight aboard Friendship 7 in February 1962.
Photos: John Glenn: First American to orbit the Earth
Ralph Morse/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Glenn announces his candidacy for US Senate in 1964. "In his only previous contacts with high-level politicians of both parties," Life magazine wrote, "Glenn has been the object of admiration and affection; for the people in general he has been virtually above reproach. Now, suddenly, his hero's immunity is gone. He must stand still for hard looks and hard questions by men who have long studied all the answers."
Photos: John Glenn: First American to orbit the Earth
Hank Walker/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Glenn with family members during his Senate campaign in 1964. He didn't win, but he ran again and was elected in 1974. He eventually served four terms.
Photos: John Glenn: First American to orbit the Earth
Bill Ray/Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images
Glenn is seen in 1964. In 1998, he again flew into space, this time aboard the space shuttle Discovery. His role in the mission was, in large part, to study the effects of space flight on the elderly. He was 77 at the time.
He became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962.
Glenn piloted the Mercury space capsule, dubbed Friendship 7, and circled the planet three times in just under five hours on February 20, 1962. Of the original seven US astronauts who made up Project Mercury – Glenn, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper, Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra and Donald Slayton – Glenn is the last surviving member.
Prior to his career as an astronaut, Glenn flew 149 missions during World War II and the Korean War and received multiple medals and decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross on six occasions.
He resigned from the astronaut program in 1964 and pursued a career in politics, serving as a US senator as a Democrat from Ohio between 1974 and 1999. He even ran for president in 1984. But Glenn’s time in space wasn’t over.
At 77, he became the oldest person to ever travel in space. Glenn was a payload specialist aboard the space shuttle Discovery for a nine-day mission in 1998.
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In 2011, he received a Congressional Gold Medal alongside Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins. In 2012, he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Obama.
This year, he attended a celebration that saw the renaming of Port Columbus Airport to John Glenn Columbus International Airport.
Glenn and his wife, Annie, have been married for 73 years. Together, they have two children.
