John Herschel Glenn died last Thursday. I learned about the astronaut, John Herschel Glenn, while I was in high school. The entire student body was called to the auditorium to witness our earliest explorations of space. A single box-like television set was dragged up on the stage. The sound of the broadcast was put on our public address system so we could experience the excitement of the launch and the reassurances in the landings. It was history on TV.
Using Wikipedia, I have just learned things about John Glenn, that I never knew. Besides being first American astronaut to orbit the Earth. I discovered that he had received a bachelor of science degree in engineering before he was commissioned in the Marine Corps. There he flew 59 combat missions during World War II and 63 missions over Korea. As as a test pilot he set a transcontinental speed record flying at supersonic speed from Los Angeles to New York.
After resigning from NASA at the age of 43, Glenn became involved in Ohio politics, winning a Senate seat in 1974 and remaining in that position for four consecutive terms. Understandably he was considered one of the Senate’s leading experts on science and technology, but he worked to prevent the spread of weapons of mass destruction. Finally at the age of seventy-seven Glenn came out of retirement. He rejoined NASA and became the oldest person to fly in space. He was the subject of a study regarding the aging process in regard to space.
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Glenn will be buried in Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday. NASA has created a beautiful tribute to John Glenn’s life. It features a photograph of Glenn relaxing aboard a ship at sea. He is wearing a NASA coveralls, high top sneakers and aviator sunglasses. His obvious enjoyment of the sea and sailing is typical of the personality of a man born on Monday.
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  #16 MON CAN 7/18/1921 John Glenn |
John Glenn was born on Monday and in the sign of Cancer. This makes him doubly influenced by the Moon. He allowed himself to perform flexibly in every phase of his life. It was not his way to aggressively confront anyone, but he stood up for his personal values through his positive actions. These are the adaptive qualities of the Moon put into constructive action. The Moon’s placement in the zodiac sign of Capricorn added determination and skill to his nature.
Glenn is one of the rare humans who made the world a better place by just being himself. The most impressive thing about his life, even beyond all his professional accomplishments, is that we’ve never heard one thing bad about him. He really tried to make the world a better place.
The marriage of John and Annie Glenn
