John Glenn, den første amerikaner, der kredsede om Jorden, er død som 95-årig

I denne 20. feb. 2012, fil foto, Den amerikanske senator John Glenn taler med astronauter på den internationale rumstation via satellit før en diskussion med titlen "Learning from the Past to Innovate for the Future" i Columbus, Ohio. Glenn, som var den første amerikanske astronaut, der kredsede om Jorden og senere brugte 24 år på at repræsentere Ohio i Senatet, er død i en alder af 95. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, Fil)

John Glenn, hvis flyvning i 1962 som den første amerikanske astronaut, der kredsede om Jorden, gjorde ham til en helt amerikansk helt og drev ham til en lang karriere i det amerikanske senat, døde torsdag. Den sidste overlevende af de originale Mercury 7-astronauter var 95.

Glenn døde på James Cancer Hospital i Columbus, Ohio, hvor han var indlagt i mere end en uge, sagde Hank Wilson, kommunikationsdirektør for John Glenn School of Public Affairs.

John Herschel Glenn Jr. havde to store karriereveje, der ofte krydsede hinanden:flyvning og politik, og han svævede i dem begge.

Før han fik berømmelse i kredsløb om verden, han var jagerpilot i to krige, og som testpilot, han satte en transkontinental hastighedsrekord. Han tjente senere 24 år i Senatet fra Ohio. Et sjældent tilbageslag var et mislykket opløb i 1984 til den demokratiske præsidentkandidat.

Hans lange politiske karriere gjorde det muligt for ham at vende tilbage til rummet i rumfærgen Discovery i en alder af 77 i 1998, en kosmisk sejrsrunde, som han nød og forvandlede til et læreværdigt øjeblik om at blive gammel. Han har rekorden for den ældste person i rummet.

Mere end noget andet, Glenn var den ultimative og unikke amerikanske rumhelt:en kampveteran med et let smil, et stærkt ægteskab på 70 år og nerver af stål. Skoler, et rumcenter og Columbus lufthavn blev opkaldt efter ham. Det var børn også.

I denne 20. feb. 1962, fil foto, Astronaut John Glenn sidder ved siden af Friendship 7 rumkapslen på toppen af en Atlas raket ved Cape Canaveral, Fla., under forberedelserne til sin flyvning, hvilket gjorde ham til den første amerikaner, der kredsede om Jorden. Glenn, som senere brugte 24 år på at repræsentere Ohio i Senatet, er død i en alder af 95. (AP Photo/File)

Sovjetunionen sprang videre i rumudforskningen ved at sætte Sputnik 1-satellitten i kredsløb i 1957, og lancerede derefter den første mand i rummet, kosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, i en 108-minutters orbitalflyvning den 12. april, 1961. Efter to suborbitale flyvninger af Alan Shepard Jr. og Gus Grissom, det var op til Glenn at være den første amerikaner, der kredsede om Jorden.

"God fart, John Glenn, "Medastronaut Scott Carpenter udsendte radio, lige før Glenn tordnede fra en Cape Canaveral affyringsrampe, nu et nationalt historisk vartegn, til et sted, Amerika aldrig havde været. På tidspunktet for den 20. feb. 1962, flyvningen, Glenn blev 40 år gammel.

Med all-business-sætningen, "Roger, uret går, vi er i gang, "Glenn sendte en radio til Jorden, da han startede sine 4 timer, 55 minutter og 23 sekunder i rummet. År senere, han forklarede, at han sagde det, fordi han ikke følte, at han havde løftet sig, og det var den eneste måde, han vidste, at han havde søsat.

Under flyvningen, Glenn udtalte en sætning, som han ofte ville gentage gennem hele livet:"Zero G, og jeg har det godt."

"Det virker stadig så levende for mig, " sagde Glenn i et 2012-interview med The Associated Press på 50-årsdagen for flyvningen. "Jeg kan stadig en slags pseudo føle nogle af de samme fornemmelser, som jeg havde dengang under lanceringen og det hele."

Glenn sagde, at han ofte blev spurgt, om han var bange, og han svarede, "Hvis du taler om frygt, der overvinder det, du skal gøre, ingen. Du har trænet meget hårdt til de flyvninger."

I denne 20. feb. Foto fra 1962 gjort tilgængeligt af NASA, Astronaut John Glenn piloterer rumfartøjet "Friendship 7" Mercury under sin historiske flyvning som den første amerikaner, der kredsede om Jorden. Glenn, som senere brugte 24 år på at repræsentere Ohio i Senatet, er død i en alder af 95. (NASA via AP)

Glenns tur i den trange Friendship 7-kapsel havde sine skræmmende øjeblikke, imidlertid. Sensorer viste, at hans varmeskjold var løs efter tre kredsløb, og Mission Control var bekymret for, at han kunne brænde op under genindsejling, når temperaturen nåede 3, 000 grader. Men varmeskjoldet holdt.

Allerede inden da, Glenn fløj i farlige himmelstrøg. Han var jagerpilot i Anden Verdenskrig og Korea, der fløj lavt, fik sit fly fyldt med kugler, fløj med baseball store Ted Williams og fik macho-kælenavne under 149 kampmissioner. Og som testpilot slog han luftfartsrekorder.

De grønøjede, telegene Marine vandt endda $25, 000 på spilprogrammet "Name That Tune" med en 10-årig partner. Og det var før den 6. april, 1959, da hans liv ændrede sig ved at blive udvalgt som en af Mercury 7-astronauterne og øjeblikkeligt begyndte at tiltrække mere end hans del af rampelyset.

Glenn i senere år beundrede folkemængderne med historier om NASA's test af kommende astronauter, fra psykologiske tests – kom med 20 svar på det åbne spørgsmål "Jeg er" – til overlevelse af spinning, der skubbede 16 gange normal tyngdekraft mod hans krop, springende blodkar.

Men det var ikke nær så slemt som at komme til Cape Canaveral for at se den første ubemandede rakettest.

"Vi ser denne ting gå op og op og op ... og med det samme blæste det op lige over os, og det var vores introduktion til Atlas, " sagde Glenn i 2011. "Vi kiggede på hinanden og ville gerne have et møde med ingeniørerne om morgenen."

I denne søndag, 1. nov., 1998 billede lavet fra video, astronaut John Glenn, venstre, henter et papirfly til piloten Steven Lindsey, højre forgrund, i rumfærgen Discoverys midtdæk. Astronaut Stephen Robinson, højre baggrund, og den japanske astronaut Chiaki Mukai ser over papirarbejde i baggrunden. Glenn døde torsdag, 8. december, 2016, i en alder af 95. (AP Photo/NASA, Fil)

I 1959, Glenn skrev i magasinet Life:"Rumrejser er på grænsen til mit erhverv. Det vil blive gennemført, og jeg vil gerne være med på det. Der er også et element af simpel pligt involveret. Jeg er overbevist om, at jeg har noget at give dette projekt."

Den pligtfølelse blev indpodet i en tidlig alder. Glenn blev født 18. juli, 1921, i Cambridge, Ohio, og voksede op i New Concord, Ohio, med kaldenavnet "Bud". Han sluttede sig til byens band som trompetist i en alder af 10 og ledsagede sin far en mindedag i en ekkoversion af "Taps". I hans erindringer fra 1999, Glenn skrev "den følelse opsummerer min barndom. Den dannede min overbevisning og min ansvarsfølelse. Alt, hvad der kom efter det, kom bare naturligt."

Hans kærlighed til flugt var livslang; John Glenn Sr. talte om de mange sommeraftener, han kom hjem for at se sin søn løbe rundt i gården med strakte arme, lod som om, han styrede et fly. juni sidste år, ved en ceremoni, der omdøbte Columbus lufthavn til ham, Glenn huskede, at han bønfaldt sine forældre om at tage ham til lufthavnen for at se på fly, når de passerede gennem byen:"Det var noget, jeg var fascineret af." Han førte sit eget private fly, indtil han var 90 år.

Glenns mål om at blive kommerciel pilot blev ændret af Anden Verdenskrig. Han forlod Muskingum College for at slutte sig til Naval Air Corps og kort efter, marinesoldaterne.

Han blev en succesrig jagerpilot, der løb 59 farlige missioner, ofte som frivillig eller som den ønskede backup af tildelte piloter. En krig senere, i Korea, han fik kælenavnet "MiG-Mad Marine" (eller "Old Magnet A—, "som han nogle gange omskrev som "Old Magnet Tail.")

"Jeg var den, der gik ned og fik dem, " sagde Glenn, forklarer, at han ofte landede med store huller i siden af sit fly, fordi han ikke kunne lide at skyde fra store højder.

In this Feb. 26, 1962 file photo, Mercury astronaut John Glenn, og hans kone, Annie, ride in the back of an open car with Vice-President Johnson during a parade in Glenn's honor in Washington. The Capitol is seen in the background. Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth who later spent 24 years representing Ohio in the Senate, døde torsdag, 8. december, 2016, at the age of 95. (AP Photo/File)

Glenn's public life began when he broke the transcontinental airspeed record, bursting from Los Angeles to New York City in three hours, 23 minutes and 8 seconds. With his Crusader averaging 725 mph, the 1957 flight proved the jet could endure stress when pushed to maximum speeds over long distances.

I New York, he got a hero's welcome—his first tickertape parade. He got another after his flight on Friendship 7.

That mission also introduced Glenn to politics. He addressed a joint session of Congress, and dined at the White House. He became friends with President Kennedy and ally and friend of his brother Robert. The Kennedys urged him to enter politics, and after a difficult few starts he did.

Glenn spent 24 years in the U.S. Senate, representing Ohio longer than any other senator in the state's history. He announced his impending retirement in 1997, 35 years to the day after he became the first American in orbit, ordsprog, "There is still no cure for the common birthday."

Glenn returned to space in a long-awaited second flight in 1998 aboard the space shuttle Discovery. He got to move around aboard the shuttle for far longer—nine days compared with just under five hours in 1962—as well as sleep and experiment with bubbles in weightlessness.

In a news conference from space, Glenn said, "To look out at this kind of creation out here and not believe in God is to me impossible."

I denne fredag, 23. sept., 1977 file photo, Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, center, speaks to a group of Youngstown, Ohio Steelworkers on the steps of the Capitol in Washington. The group urged the government to curb steel imports and to relax pollution control requirements. Glenn, the first U.S. astronaut to orbit Earth who later spent 24 years representing Ohio in the Senate, døde torsdag, 8. december, 2016, at the age of 95. (AP Photo/Harvey Georges, Fil)

NASA tailored a series of geriatric-reaction experiments to create a scientific purpose for Glenn's mission, but there was more to it than that:a revival of the excitement of the earliest days of the space race, a public relations bonanza and the gift of a lifetime.

"America owed John Glenn a second flight, " NASA Administrator Dan Goldin said.

Glenn would later write that when he mentioned the idea of going back into space to his wife, Annie, she responded:"Over my dead body."

Glenn and his crewmates flew 3.6 million miles, compared with 75, 000 miles aboard Friendship 7.

Shortly before he ran for the 1984 Democratic presidential nomination, a new generation was introduced to astronaut Glenn with the film adaptation of Tom Wolfe's book "The Right Stuff." He was portrayed as the ultimate straight arrow amid a group of hard-partying astronauts.

Glenn said in 2011:"I don't think any of us cared for the movie 'The Right Stuff'; I know I didn't."

I denne tirsdag, 18. januar, 1984 file photo, Sen. John Glenn, D-Ohio, answers questions from the press in Jackson, Miss. At left is his wife, Annie Glenn. Glenn travelled through the South seeking support for his presidential campaign. Glenn, the first U.S. astronaut to orbit Earth who later spent 24 years representing Ohio in the Senate, døde torsdag, 8. december, 2016, at the age of 95. (AP Photo/Tannen Maury, Fil)

Glenn was unable to capitalize on the publicity, selvom, and his poorly organized campaign was short-lived. He dropped out of the race with his campaign $2.5 million in the red—a debt that lingered even after he retired from the Senate in 1999.

He later joked that except for going into debt, humiliating his family and gaining 16 pounds, running for president was a good experience.

Glenn generally steered clear of campaigns after that, saying he didn't want to mix politics with his second space flight. He sat out the Senate race to succeed him—he was hundreds of miles above Earth on Election Day—and largely was quiet in the 2000 presidential race.

He first ran for the Senate in 1964 but left the race when he suffered a concussion after slipping in the bathroom and hitting his head on the tub.

He tried again in 1970 but was defeated in the primary by Howard Metzenbaum, who later lost the general election to Robert Taft Jr. It was the start of a complex relationship with Metzenbaum, whom he later joined in the Senate.

For the next four years, Glenn devoted his attention to business and investments that made him a multimillionaire. He had joined the board of Royal Crown Cola after the aborted 1964 campaign and was president of Royal Crown International from 1967 to 1969. In the early 1970s, he remained with Royal Crown and invested in a chain of Holiday Inns.

In this Feb. 23, 1962 file photo, astronaut John Glenn and President John F. Kennedy inspect the Friendship 7, the Mercury capsule in which Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. Kennedy presented Distinguished Service medal to Glenn at Cape Canaveral, Fla. At right is Vice President Lyndon Johnson. Glenn, who later spent 24 years representing Ohio in the Senate, has died at 95. (AP Photo/Vincent P. Connolly, Fil)

I 1974, Glenn ran against Metzenbaum in what turned into a bitter primary and won the election. He eventually made peace with Metzenbaum, who won election to the Senate in 1976.

Glenn set a record in 1980 by winning re-election with a 1.6 million vote margin.

He became an expert on nuclear weaponry and was the Senate's most dogged advocate of nonproliferation. He was the leading supporter of the B-1 bomber when many in Congress doubted the need for it. As chairman of the Governmental Affairs Committee, he turned a microscope on waste and fraud in the federal bureaucracy.

Glenn said the lowest point of his life was 1990, when he and four other senators came under scrutiny for their connections to Charles Keating, the notorious financier who eventually served prison time for his role in the costly savings and loan failure of the 1980s. The Senate Ethics Committee cleared Glenn of serious wrongdoing but said he "exercised poor judgment."

The episode was the only brush with scandal in his long public career and didn't diminish his popularity in Ohio.

Glenn joked that the only astronaut he was envious of was his fellow Ohioan:Neil Armstrong, the first man to walk on the moon.

I denne tirsdag, 29 maj, 2012, fil foto, President Barack Obama awards the Medal of Freedom to former astronaut John Glenn during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth who later spent 24 years representing Ohio in the Senate, døde torsdag, 8. december, 2016, at the age of 95. (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, Fil)

"I've been very fortunate to have a lot of great experiences in my life and I'm thankful for them, " he said in 2012.

In 1943, Glenn married his childhood sweetheart, Anna Margaret Castor. They met when they were toddlers, and when she had mumps as a teenager, he came to her house, cut a hole in her bedroom window screen, and passed her a radio to keep her company, a friend recounted.

"I don't remember the first time I told Annie I loved her, or the first time she told me, " Glenn would write in his memoir. "It was just something we both knew." He bought her a diamond engagement ring in 1942 for $125. It's never been replaced.

They had two children, Carolyn and John David.

He and his wife, Annie, split their later years between Washington and Columbus. Both served as trustees at their alma mater, Muskingum College. Glenn spent time promoting the John Glenn School of Public Affairs at Ohio State University, which also houses an archive of his private papers and photographs.

In this Jan. 11, 1961 file photo, Marine Lt. Col. John Glenn reaches for controls inside a Mercury capsule procedures trainer as he shows how the first U.S. astronaut will ride through space during a demonstration at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration Research Center in Langley Field, Va. Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth who later spent 24 years representing Ohio in the Senate, døde torsdag, 8. december, 2016, at the age of 95. (AP Photo/File)
This undated photo made available by NASA shows astronaut John Glenn in his Mercury flight suit. Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth who later spent 24 years representing Ohio in the Senate, døde torsdag, 8. december, 2016, at the age of 95. (NASA via AP)
I denne 14. maj, 2015 filbillede, former astronaut and senator John Glenn answers questions during an interview at the Ohio Statehouse. Glenn died Thursday, 8. december, 2016, at the age of 95. (AP Photo/Paul Vernon, Fil)
In this February 1962 photo made available by NASA, astronaut John Glenn looks into a Celestial Training Device globe at the Aeromedical Laboratory at Cape Canaveral, Fla. Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth who later spent 24 years representing Ohio in the Senate, døde torsdag, 8. december, 2016, at the age of 95. (NASA via AP)
I denne fredag, 29. august, 2008 filbillede, astronauts Neil Armstrong, left, the first man to walk on the moon, John Glenn Jr., center, the first American to orbit earth, and James Lovell, right, commander of Apollo 13, stand at a gathering of 19 of the astronauts who call Ohio home in Cleveland. The gathering of Ohio astronauts was part of NASA's 50th Anniversary celebration. Glenn died Thursday, 8. december, 2016, at the age of 95. (AP Photo/Jason Miller, Fil)

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