Former astronaut John Glenn touched many lives, even in St. Regis

Former astronaut and U.S. Senator, John Glenn was hailed as a national hero and became a symbol of the space age as the first American to orbit Earth. He passed away on Thursday, Dec. 8 at the age of 95. He was in the Senate for 24 years, but captured the country’s imagination when he became the first American to orbit the Earth.

He was an inspiration to younger generations and touched those around him with his commitment to civic engagement, and public service. This included Jim Pestana, 87, whose daughter, Jill Pestana, lives in St. Regis.

Jill said her father often visited Cape Canaveral in Florida and knew Glenn. They would greet each other in passing and on one such occasion he snapped a photo with Glenn. A photo which is now framed to commemorate the occasion.

Jim fought in the Korean War and lived in Pensacola, Fla. In the late ‘80s, he would often travel to Cape Canaveral and visit the Kennedy Space Center which is where he would see and greet Glenn. He now lives in Alabama with relatives.

Though Glenn touched many lives like Jim’s and was often referred to as a national hero, he hesitanted to accept the term.

Last June he was honored at a renaming ceremony of the now John Glenn Columbus International Airport. During his speech, Glenn said he wanted to be clear that the main benefit of the renaming was not just to honor him.

“Enjoyable as that may be, the most important thing is that with some of the young people of today, maybe I can set an example, or bring their attention, to the importance of public service or even their interest in aviation,” said Glenn.

Glenn had recently been hospitalized at Ohio State University at the James Cancer Center. Though there were no reports that he actually had cancer, he did have heart-valve replacement surgery in 2014 and a stroke around that time. He also kept an office at the John Glenn College of Public Affairs at Ohio State and had a home in Columbus.

In 1962, Glenn launched into space for the NASA mission of sending a man to orbit Earth, observe his reactions and return him home safely. The flight lasted four hours and 56 minutes, and he circled the globe three times, reaching speeds of more than 17,000 miles per hour, according to NASA’s website. The mission ended with a splashdown and recovery in the Atlantic Ocean, 800 miles southeast of Bermuda.

Glenn was first selected from an original pool of 508 other astronaut candidates for the mission. The criteria for the selection was they had to be test pilot school graduates in excellent physical shape, less than 40 years old, shorter than 5 feet, 11 inches, qualified jet pilots and they had to have at least 1,500 hours flying time and bachelors’ degrees in engineering. Glenn met all the requirements.

He also had a reputation as one of the best test pilots in the country. In July 1957, he had set a transcontinental speed record by flying from Los Angeles to New York in 3 hours and 23 minutes. It was the first transcontinental flight to average supersonic speed.

In April of 1959, John Glenn was selected as a member of the first group of astronauts, the “Mercury Seven.” He was joined by Scott Carpenter, Gordon Cooper, Gus Grissom, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard and Deke Slayton.

After his orbit, John Glenn instantly became a hero. President John Kennedy awarded him the Space Congressional Medal of Honor. Schools and streets across the country were named after him. And a ticker tape parade in New York City celebrated his mission.

He resigned from the astronaut corps in 1964 and became an executive in private industry before serving four full terms as a Democratic senator from Ohio. He also ran unsuccessfully for the Democratic presidential nomination in 1984.

And then, 36 years after his Mercury flight, and at the age of 77, he once again returned to orbit on the space shuttle Discovery on Oct. 29, 1998, making him the oldest person to go into space.