branch allegiance birth_date signature residence term_end alma_mater battles term_start spouse rank image name predecessor birth_place jr/sr party awards office unit state successor religion article_title birth_name
nowrap united states 18 july 1921 john glenn signature.svg columbus , ohio january 3 , 1999 january 3 , 1995 muskingum university -lrb- b.s. 1962 -rrb- world war ii korean war december 24 , 1974 january 3 , 1987 annie glenn -lrb- 1943 & ndash ; present -rrb- 15px colonel file : john glenn low res.jpg john glenn howard metzenbaum william v. roth jr. . cambridge , ohio , u.s. united states senator democratic nowrap chairman of the senate committee on governmental affairs vmj-353 wing vmf-155 vmf-218 vma-311 4th fighter wing 51st fighter ohio george voinovich william v. roth jr. . presbyterian john glenn
 john herschel glenn , jr.
john glenn

john herschel glenn , jr. -lrb- born july 18 , 1921 -rrb- , -lrb- col , usmc , ret . -rrb-
, is a former u.s. marine corps aviator , engineer , astronaut , and united states senator .
he was selected as one of the `` mercury seven '' group of military test pilots selected in 1959 by nasa to become america 's first astronauts and fly the project mercury spacecraft .
on february 20 , 1962 , glenn flew the `` friendship 7 '' mission and became the first american to orbit the earth and the fifth person in space , after cosmonauts yuri gagarin and gherman titov and the sub-orbital flights of mercury astronauts alan shepard and gus grissom .
glenn is the earliest-born american to go to orbit , and the second earliest-born man overall after soviet cosmonaut georgy beregovoy .
glenn received the congressional space medal of honor in 1978 , and was inducted into the u.s. astronaut hall of fame in 1990 .
with the death of scott carpenter on october 10 , 2013 , glenn became the last surviving member of the mercury seven .
glenn resigned from nasa on january 16 , 1964 , and the next day announced plans to run for a u.s. senate seat from ohio .
but injury from a bathtub concussion caused him to withdraw from the race in march .
he retired from the marine corps on january 1 , 1965 .
a member of the democratic party , he finally won election to the senate in 1974 and served through january 3 , 1999 .
with the death of edward brooke on january 3 , 2015 , glenn became the oldest living former united states senator .
on october 29 , 1998 , while still a sitting senator , he became the oldest person to fly in space , and the only one to fly in both the mercury and space shuttle programs , when at age 77 , he flew as a payload specialist on `` discovery '' mission sts-95 .
he was awarded the presidential medal of freedom in 2012 .
