John Glenn Space Flight
The nine day mission supported a variety of research including the deployment of the spartan solar observing spacecraft the hubble space telescope orbital systems test platform and several microgravity experiments from nasa glenn then lewis.
John glenn space flight. In 1998 while still a sitting senator glenn flew on space shuttle discovery s sts 95 mission making him at age 77 the oldest person to fly in space and the only person to fly in both the mercury and the space shuttle programs. Glenn s first flight aboard the mercury spacecraft friendship 7 lasted less than five hours. In 1962 glenn was the first american to orbit the earth.
Space shuttle discovery carried former u s. John glenn to space during sts 95. At the age of 77 he added another milestone to nasa s history by becoming the oldest human to fly in space.
On october 29 1998 nearly four decades after his famous orbital flight the 77 year old glenn became the oldest human ever to travel in space. Glenn both the oldest and the last surviving member of the mercury seven died at the age of 95 in 2016.