John Glenn, 1921-2016

The word "hero" is thrown around a lot these days, but there's no denying that former astronaut and Senator John Glenn was a real hero. He died today at the age of 95. Glenn was the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth in 1962, and was one of the seven original astronauts-- the Mercury Seven -- selected by NASA for spaceflight. In 1998, he became the oldest to fly in space when he flew on the Discovery space vehicle at age 77. As a Marine aviator, Glenn flew 59 combat missions in the South Pacific in WW II and 63 combat missions during the Korean War. As a Democratic U.S. senator from Ohio from 1974 to 1999, Glenn was the principal author of the 1979 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Act.

Godspeed John Glenn, and R.I.P.

UPDATE:  An interesting fact about Glenn was that, as a pilot in the Korean War, his wingman for many missions was baseball great Ted Williams.  They had a mutual admiration society.