Key Takeaways:
- John Glenn achieved the distinction of being the first American to orbit Earth on February 20, 1962, aboard Friendship 7, also becoming the oldest man in space at that particular time.
- After serving four terms in the Senate, Glenn identified notable physiological parallels between medical conditions experienced by astronauts, such as osteoporosis and muscle loss, and those commonly affecting the elderly.
- This observation led Glenn to propose and volunteer for a subsequent space mission in 1995, aiming to collect data that could illuminate these shared age-related and space-induced health issues.
- On October 29, 1998, at the age of 77, Glenn embarked on a nine-day mission as a payload specialist on the space shuttle *Discovery*, establishing a new record for the oldest individual in space and exemplifying the capabilities of older adults.
John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth when he blasted off in Friendship 7 on Feb. 20, 1962. His flight made him an American hero during the heights of the Space Race, and the oldest man in space at the time of that mission. He subsequently served four six-year terms in the Senate (D-Ohio). In 1995, he noticed that many of the medical conditions that impacted astronauts – osteoporosis, muscle loss, balance and perception problems, issues with metabolism and blood flow – also afflicted the elderly. He proposed to NASA that studying an older astronaut in space may yield data that helped illuminate these parallels, and volunteered to make the trek. It took some persuading, and NASA required Glenn to pass the same tests as his much younger crewmates, but on Oct. 29, 1998, Glenn blasted off on a nine-day mission as a payload specialist on the space shuttle Discovery. At age 77, he once again set the record for the oldest person in space (to that point), and he would later write in his memoir of his pride at redefining what the elderly were capable of doing.
