Glenn Gray, Glenn Lost

Or

Astro-Not

 Or

Space Ghost

John Glenn, one of the few men brave enough to tease Ted Williams, has died at the age of 95. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Glenn joined the Marines and flew 59 combat missions in the Pacific, earning two Distinguished Flying Crosses, then flew 90 more in the Korean War, where he had Williams as a wingman. On one mission, Williams’ plane was in flames, and Glenn flew alongside, motioning for him to fly higher, where the diminished oxygen extinguished the flames. Glenn took on even more dangerous missions testing supersonic jets, then applied to become one of NASA’s first test pilots. One of the original Mercury 7 astronauts, Glenn took the leap into the unknown and became the first American to orbit the earth. The flight was short, but was seen as a victory in the Cold War for space, making Glenn more valuable as a symbol than as an astronaut, so he was grounded for PR appearances. Spinning around and ending up in basically the same place prepared him for the next phase of his career – the US Senate, where he represented Ohio for 24 years. He eventually got a return flight, boarding the Space Shuttle Discovery in 1998 to become the oldest man in space, apparently to test the effects of weightlessness on old man testicle droop. Perhaps his most impressive achievement coming from an era when astronauts had the sex appeal of rock stars and the morals to match, Glenn stayed married to Annie, his high school sweetheart, for 73 years.