Obituary: John Glenn died on December 8th

TOO big, too unschooled, too old'only narrowly did John Glenn gain entry to the training programme which made him America's space hero. To meet NASA's size requirements, he briskly lost 28lb (nearly 13kg), even putting books on his head to try to squeeze a little off his height.Nothing could be done about his age (pushing 40), nor his lack of scientific qualifications'he had dropped out of his engineering course in 1941 after learning to fly. But what flying it was: 149 combat missions, first against Japan in the Pacific, then in the Korean war; one of them left more than 200 bullet-holes in his plane's fuselage. They earned him the nickname 'The MiG-mad Marine', six Distinguished Flying Crosses and 18 clusters on his Air Medal. And he was a celebrity already, having just made America's first transcontinental supersonic flight, in a record three hours 23 minutes, testing a new fighter aircraft. His country's spirits needed lifting in 1959. The Soviet space programme seemed unbeatable. Communist scientists had put the first satellite, dog and man into orbit, while America's efforts flared and fizzled on the launch pad. Despite the...Continue reading
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