Today in the history of astronomy, the first American to orbit Earth returns to space after a 36-year absence.

| Published: October 29, 2026

John Glenn at age 77, before his mission as the oldest person in space. Credit: NASA.

John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth when he blasted off in Friendship 7 on Feb. 20, 1962. His flight made him an American hero during the heights of the Space Race, and the oldest man in space at the time of that mission. He subsequently served four six-year terms in the Senate (D-Ohio). In 1995, he noticed that many of the medical conditions that impacted astronauts – osteoporosis, muscle loss, balance and perception problems, issues with metabolism and blood flow – also afflicted the elderly. He proposed to NASA that studying an older astronaut in space may yield data that helped illuminate these parallels, and volunteered to make the trek. It took some persuading, and NASA required Glenn to pass the same tests as his much younger crewmates, but on Oct.…