The first American to orbit the Earth has died. John Glenn was the last surviving member of the original Mercury astronauts. He would later have a long political career as a U.S. senator, but that didn't stop his pioneering ways.
Glenn made history a second time in 1998, when he flew aboard the shuttle Discovery to become the oldest person to fly in space. Glenn was 95; he had been hospitalized in an Ohio State University medical center in Columbus since last week.
Glenn had been battling health issues since a stroke a few years ago. His death Thursday was confirmed by Hank Wilson, communications director of the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at the Ohio State University.
A great loss, the last of the original seven US astronaut's. I never met him, his feats were long before I became involved with NASA during the moon program, but to accomplish what he did orbiting the earth three times in such a primitive vehicle and so successfully is mind boggling.
