Photos: John Glenn, First American in Orbit

Astronaut U.S. Senator John Glenn

STS-95 crewmember, astronaut and U.S. Senator John Glenn. Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth and returned to space in 1998 aboard a Space Shuttle flight.

STS-95 Takeoff

The STS-95 mission carrying Senator John Glenn launched on October 29, 1998

Glenn on Shuttle Middeck

STS-95 payload specialist John Glenn works with the Osteporosis Experiment in Orbit (OSTEO) experiment located in a locker in the Discovery's middeck.

Glenn Photographs from the Flight Deck

STS-95 Payload Specialist John Glenn positions himself to take photos from the Discovery's aft flight deck windows on Flight Day 3.

Glenn at the Cape

Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr. in his silver Mercury spacesuit during pre-flight training activities at Cape Canaveral. On February 20, 1962 Glenn lifted off into space aboard his Mercury Atlas (MA-6) rocket and became the first American to orbit the Earth. After orbiting the Earth 3 times, Friendship 7 landed in the Atlantic Ocean 4 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds later, just East of Grand Turk Island in the Bahamas. Glenn and his capsule were recovered by the Navy Destroyer Noa, 21 minutes after splashdown.

Astronaut John Glenn Confers with Nurse Dolores B. O'Hara

Astronaut John H. Glenn Jr., pilot of the Mercury-Atlas 6 earth-orbital space mission, confers with Astronaut Nurse Dolores B. O'Hara, R.N., during MA-6 prelaunch preparations.

Astronaut, President & Cosmonaut

Second cosmonaut German Titov (right) appears with NASA astronaut John Glenn and President John Kennedy at the White House in 1962. Titov was in Washington to give his account of the Vostok 2 spaceflight to the Committee on Space Research (COSPAR). The twenty-five-year-old Titov was the youngest person to ever go into space - a record that still stands to this day.

John Glenn Official Portrait

John Glenn, official portrait, 1959.

Glenn in the Mercury Procedures Trainer

Glenn spent hours in the Mercury Procedures Trainer at NASA Langley.

John Glenn with His Wife, Annie

John Glenn explains a feature of the Mercury capsule to his wife, Annie, during one of her visits to NASA Langley in 1959.