John Glenn

One of America's greatest space heroes, John Glenn was the first American to orbit the Earth as part of the historic Mercury 6 space flight in 1962, which preceded his two-decade long stint as senator for his home state of Ohio. The twin accomplishments followed his highly decorated first career as a Marine Corps jet pilot in World War II and Korea and later, his supersonic transcontinental journey across the United States in 1957, which set the speed record for cross-country air travel. Glenn became one of NASA's original Mercury Seven astronauts in 1959, which led to his orbit around the globe in the spacecraft Friendship three years later. Following his retirement from NASA in 1964, Glenn pursued political ambitions in his home state, capturing the Senate seat in 1974 and retaining it until his retirement in 1998. He then became the oldest American citizen to travel into space with a journey aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery that same year, a fitting conclusion to a life marked by the highest accomplishments in not one but three distinguished fields. His death at the age of 95 on December 8, 2016 was marked by public farewells from across the world befitting his stature as a great American hero of the 20th century.