NASA Celebrates: It’s the 100th Birthday of the 1st American Who Orbited the Planet

NASA Celebrates: It’s the 100th Birthday of the 1st American Who Orbited the Planet
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Born in 1921 and deceased in 2016, John Glenn was a United States Marine Corps engineer, aviator, businessman, politician, and, first of all: astronaut. The man was not only the first American who reached cosmic space but also the first American who orbited the Earth – he even circled our planet three times in 1962.

God has chosen to take John Glenn away from this world in 2016 after the astronomer lived a long life of 95 years. Glenn left a tremendous legacy for astronomy. NASA reminded of him and celebrated his 100th birthday on Saturday, according to The Tribune.

John Glenn also changed the English language

Credit: Pixabay.com, Jackie Ramirez
Credit: Pixabay.com, Jackie Ramirez

NASA released the following statement, as quoted by The Tribune:

He also changed the language, adding a Yiddish term — glitch — to our lexicon. He wasn’t by training a wordsmith like Shakespeare or a musician (who often change the way in which language is used through song) but change it he did.

Katherine Johnson from NASA also spoke very eulogistic about John Glen, as also cited by The Tribune:

A good man has left Earth for the last time. John Glenn’s life will long be remembered for his time in space, his courage, and his service to all Americans.

As Wikipedia reveals, John Glenn received plenty of resounding awards and honours. The man received the John J. Montgomery Award in 1963, the Hubbard Medal of National Geographic Society in 1962, and the Ambassador of Space Exploration Award in 2006 along with other 37 space race astronauts, just to say the least.

Hopefully, humanity will get to orbit many more planets except for Earth in the near future. Astronomers discover more and more exoplanets (planets beyond our own Solar System) every year, which automatically opens a lot more opportunities for space explorers.


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Even since he was a child, Cristian was staring curiously at the stars, wondering about the Universe and our place in it. Today he's seeing his dream come true by writing about the latest news in astronomy. Cristian is also glad to be covering health and other science topics, having significant experience in writing about such fields.

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