This 3.75" x 3.5" (9.53 x 8.89 cm) photograph shows the home where astronaut John Herschel Glenn was born in Cambridge, Ohio, on July 18, 1921. When he was a child, the family moved to New Concord, Ohio. In March 1941, Glenn left Muskingum College before earning a diploma to participate in World War II. He joined the navy, earned his airman's wings, and transferred to the U.S. Marine Corps. He flew 59 fighter bomber missions in the war, mostly in the Marshall Islands. He remained in the military after World War II and fought in Korea as a combat pilot. During the Korean War, Glenn was famous for low bombing and strafing runs, and he volunteered to participate with the U.S. Air Force in combat north of the Yalu River.
In 1954 Glenn won an assignment as a Marine test pilot, and in 1957 he planned and piloted Operation Bullet, a transcontinental flight from California to New York that established a new record for speed. In April 1959, he was selected as one of seven Mercury astronauts. On February 20, 1962, Glenn was launched into space in the Mercury-Atlas 6 Friendship Seven spacecraft after eleven attempts. Glenn orbited the earth three times and successfully landed. After the flight, the celebration included a speech by Glenn to a joint session of Congress and a ticker-tape parade in New York City.
In 1965 Glenn retired from the Marines as a colonel and developed a business career. He joined Royal Crown Cola, first as a member of the board of directors and later as the president of Royal Crown Cola International. He resigned as an executive officer in 1969, but remained on the board of directors. Turning to politics, Glenn campaigned in 1970 for the U.S. Senate but lost in the Democratic primary to Howard Metzenbaum. In 1974 he won a landslide election to the U.S. Senate. In 1983 he announced his candidacy for president, but later withdrew. Glenn was reelected to the U.S. Senate in 1992 as the first four-term senator from Ohio. On October 29, 1998 John Glenn became the oldest man in space, aboard the shuttle Discovery.
