Sad to hear of the passing of an iconic American hero. Marine, Astronaut, US Senator. Embodied the "great American." R.I.P.

Married to his "Annie" for more than 70 years...TV game show champ...nerves of steel...fearless test pilot..."gulp" successful Atlas missile astronaut (that's the Atlas program with a 25 percent plus launch failure rate that no one else would touch)...59 successful solo missions as a Marine fighter pilot through two wars...last of the Mercury Seven astronauts...first American to orbit the earth...and US Senator for 25 years. He was the man with "all the right stuff."

"OK, Houston, that's Zero G and I feel fine."

I watched his shuttle launch in person with my 3 year old...yes, he was a great American

Having grown up in the 1960s, I remember when all astronauts were larger than life. Yet John Glenn stood out among this intrepid group of heros. RIP

My brother in law is a pilot and had JG on a flight a few years back. Had a picture taken with him. Really cool.

asu66 wrote:Married to his "Annie" for more than 70 years...TV game show champ...nerves of steel...fearless test pilot..."gulp" successful Atlas missile astronaut (that's the Atlas program with a 25 percent plus launch failure rate that no one else would touch)...59 successful solo missions as a Marine fighter pilot through two wars...last of the Mercury Seven astronauts...first American to orbit the earth...and US Senator for 25 years. He was the man with "all the right stuff."

"OK, Houston, that's Zero G and I feel fine."

As appropriate of a title as "The Right Stuff" is, it still doesn't completely describe the guts that those early astronauts had. We're talking about sitting on top of rockets (which were nothing more than unguided flying bombs less than 20 years before), and flying into space before humans fully knew what to expect when leaving the atmosphere.

Yes lost some good ones this year Merle , Arnold, patty duke ,Ali.. someone pointed out we are definitely losing a generation ,the best in my opinion