John Glenn (photo posted later in the article) - the first American to fly around the globe, went down in history for the second time, when at 77 he became the oldest person to travel in space. But before the astronaut was recognized as a national hero, he often risked his life for his country.
Biography
John Herschel Glenn Jr. was born on July 18, 1921 in the city of Cambridge, Ohio, in the family of John and Theresa Sprout Glenn. Playing in a school orchestra, he met Anna Margaret Castor, with whom he subsequently associated his fate. After graduation, he studied at Maskingham College, where he received a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering. After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, Glenn became a cadet at the Naval Aviation School. During the Second World War made 59 sorties.
Glenn then served as an in-flight training instructor in Corpus Christi, Texas. He made 90 sorties in Korea, shooting down three MiGs in the last nine days of fighting.
After that, John Glenn graduated from a test pilot school at the US Navy Test Center, and then continued to serve as a project officer on a number of aircraft. For two and a half years, he attended classes at the University of Maryland, while working in the fighter design department of the United States Naval Aeronautics Administration, the forerunner of the Naval Weapons Bureau.
In July 1957, John set a speed record in 3 hours 23 minutes flying from Los Angeles to New York. It was the first flight across the country with an average speed exceeding the speed of sound.
Astronaut John Glenn was awarded the Cross For Merit Award 6 times and a number of other military awards 6 times. He and his wife have two children.
Squad Mercury 7
In the spring of 1959, Glenn was chosen to be a member of the Mercury 7 project. He became part of the squad of the first astronauts and was an understudy of the first two Americans who traveled into space, Alan Shepard and Virgil "Gus" Griss.
At that time, the United States participated in a space race with the Soviet Union. Yuri Gagarin April 12, 1961 was the first to be launched into outer space, ahead of Alan Shepard in less than a month. He was also the first to visit Earth orbit and complete a complete revolution around the Earth.
John Glenn: 1962 historical flight
February 20, 1962, the United States showed that they have the same character as their rivals. In the previous flight into space by Shepard and Griss, their ship did not make a complete revolution around the Earth - this was done by John Glenn. The flight duration was almost 5 hours. On board the capsule, he circled the Earth three times, traveling at a speed exceeding 27,350 km / h, at a maximum altitude of 260 km.
But his path was not without dangers. After the first round, mechanical problems with the automatic control system required John to manually control the aircraft. The sensors also showed that there was no heat shield that was supposed to protect astronauts from the deadly temperatures created when entering the atmosphere. To protect himself when he returned to Earth, Glenn held a package with a brake propulsion system. Re-examination of the control system showed that the indicator was faulty. The shield was in order, but the sensations were undoubtedly painful.
Political career
John Glenn resigned from the Marine Corps in 1965 with the rank of colonel. For ten years he worked as a business director. In 1974, he was elected to the US Senate. An Ohio Democrat zealously campaigned for funding science, education, and space exploration. In 1984, he made an unsuccessful attempt to run for president from the Democratic Party. Glenn remained a senator until 1999.
During his tenure in the Senate, he became the main author of the 1978 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act, was chairman of the government affairs committee from 1987 to 1995, participated in foreign affairs and military committees, and in a special aging committee.
Second flight
Despite his advanced age, John Glenn did not end the space program. October 29, 1998, while still a senator, he once again went down in history, flying on the shuttle Discovery to become the oldest space traveler. The flight lasted nine days. Glenn worked as a payload specialist and participated in experiments that were supposed to test how his 77-year-old body would deal with weightlessness. The ship also put into orbit the SPARTAN satellite, designed to study the solar wind, and equipment for the upcoming maintenance of the Hubble telescope. During the flight, the shuttle circled the Earth 134 times, passing 5.8 million km in 213 hours and 44 minutes.
Glenn's participation in the nine-day mission was criticized by part of the space community as a political service provided to Glenn by President Clinton. However, the flight of the astronaut provided valuable information in studies of the effect of weightlessness and other aspects of space flight on the same person at two points in his life, separated by 36 years, which today is the longest interval between space flights of the same person. Glenn's involvement provided information on the effects of flight and weightlessness on older people. Shortly before the start, the researchers found out that he was suspended from one of the two main experiments (concerning melatonin), because he did not meet one of the medical conditions. But John took part in two other experiments on monitoring sleep and the use of protein.
In 2012, Glenn received the Presidential Medal of Freedom. He also participated in the decommissioning of the space shuttle, although he criticized the completion of the program, leading to a delay in research.
Although Glenn's second spaceflight was significantly different from the first, both of them became historic, record missions. However, most Americans will always remember him as the first American to enter Earth orbit.
John Glenn: family
Glenn and Annie Castor first met - literally - in the playpen. In New Concord, Ohio, their parents were friends. When families got together, the children played.
John - the future navy fighter pilot, future ass and test pilot, future astronaut - from the very beginning was a profitable party. Ultimately, during the space race, he became the most coveted US man, but what did it mean to be young John Glenn in New Concord?
Annie Castor was bright, caring, talented, generous in spirit. But she could speak with great difficulty. Her stutter was so strong that it was defined as 85 percent disability, since 85% of the time she could not utter a word.
When she tried to read a poem in elementary school, they laughed at her. Annie could not talk on the phone. She could not talk to friends.
And John Glenn fell in love with her.
The wife of a military pilot
As a boy, he realized that people who did not understand her because of stuttering, missed the opportunity to recognize a rare and wonderful girl.
They married on April 6, 1943. As a military wife, she discovered that life in moving around the country can be extremely difficult. In department stores, she wandered through unfamiliar aisles, trying to find the right department, not daring to ask anyone for help. She had to write to the driver in a taxi because she could not pronounce the destination out loud. In restaurants, she simply pointed to items on the menu.
A great musician, Annie played the church organ to make new friends in every ward where he and John moved. She was afraid to use the phone, since it was very difficult for her to say “Hello”. Annie was terrified of situations where she would need to call a doctor. Will she choose the words to report the misfortune?
For a pack of chewing gum
Glenn, like a naval aviator, setting off on a regular combat mission during World War II and during the Korean War, said goodbye the same every time. “I just pack a bunch of chewing gum in a corner store,” said John Glenn. The wife always answered: "Only not for long."
In February 1962, when the whole world, with bated breath, was waiting for the launch of the Atas rocket with Glenn on board, the couple said the same goodbye. And in 1998, when at the age of 77, he returned to space aboard the Discovery shuttle. These were tense moments. What if something happens and their life ends?
She knew what he would tell her before boarding the shuttle. So he did, and this time gave her a gift - a pack of chewing gum. She carried it in her breast pocket near her heart until John returned home.
Miraculous cure
Many times in her life, Annie tried to cure stuttering. No one could help her. But in 1973, in Virginia, she found a doctor who had an intensive program that she and John hoped could help her. Annie went there. The miracle that the couple had been waiting for all this time finally happened. At the age of 53, she spoke for the first time not in short, jerky, painful bursts, but could clearly express her thought.
When John first heard her speak confidently and clearly, he fell to his knees to offer a prayer of thanks. Since then, she regularly gives public speeches and always gets up to say a few words at events with Glenn.
And as soon as she takes her word, it is worth looking into the eyes of her husband.