John Glenn essays

John Glenn essays John Glenn is a great man known by all for his many contributions to America. John Glenn was not only an astronotical hero, but also a great senator who helped shape our country. John Glenn had as a fighter pilot and later on volunteered to work at NASA as a test pilot. Glenn was later elected to go into space to orbit the earth. On February 20,1962 John Glenn was the first American to ever go into orbit. That morning Glenn took off in an aircraft heading for space. With is adrenaline pumping his aircraft went through the many layers of the many layers of the earths atmosphere. Throughout most of the take off 5 gs were pushing down on him. The trip was very smooth compared to the centrifuge he had been practicing in. Once he had actually left the earths atmosphere he radioed back to base, Zero-g and I feel fine(qtd. in Wolfe 81). Once up there he was told that he had to do at least 7 orbits and then he could return. He spent 4 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds in space an d then completed his trip by plummeting back into the earths atmosphere and landing in the ocean. Although Glenn was a great astronaut, he also is now for his successful carrier as a US senator. In 1974 Glenn ran for senator as a republican and won. He served a total of 25 years as senator and finally he retired in the year 1999. Finally at the age of 77 Glenn was given one more chance to go into to orbit, Even at age 77, John Glenn seemed to be made for an astronauts gear(Newcott 1). Without thinking twice he accepted the offer. So in 1998 for the last time he left the earths atmosphere and entered space. Although he had done it once before this time it was going to be a little bit different. Technology had changed significantly since the last time he went to space. There was a lot more buttons than there was in his original aircraft and it was a lot high-techer. Also once in space th ...