Profile of the Day: John Glenn

Today we remember legendary astronaut John Glenn on what would have been his 101st birthday.

Image: John Glenn / NASA

John Herschel Glenn, Jr. was born on July 18, 1921 to John Herschel Glenn, Sr. and Clara Sproat in Cambridge, Ohio. In 1943, Glenn married his high school sweetheart, Anna Castor. The couple had met when they were just toddlers and remained married for 73 years until his death.

An original member of the Mercury Seven, Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth. He orbited the planet three times in the Friendship 7 spacecraft before re-entering the Earth’s atmosphere. After leaving NASA, Glenn entered the world of politics and served four consecutive terms as the Senator of Ohio. In 1998, he returned to space in the space shuttle Discovery at the age of 77, becoming the oldest person to go into space.

Glenn died on December 8, 2016 at the age of 95 and was interred at Arlington National Cemetery.

Explore John Glenn’s family tree on Geni and share how you’re related to the astronaut.

View John Glenn’s Geni Profile