#Repost @time ・・・ John Glenn, the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth, died on Dec. 8 date. He was 95. Glenn was a military man who flew 149 combat missions during the Korean War. In 1959, the year he posed for this portrait in a Mercury program pressure suit and helmet, he was announced as one of NASA’s original seven astronauts. It was Glenn, who, on Feb. 20, 1962, circled the planet three times and “came back to a welcome that would make the likes of Lindbergh and Earhart look like mere stunt flyers,” writes TIME’s Jeffrey Kluger. “So many Americans have never known a world that didn’t include him. And now all of us will have to adjust to a world that is different. And is poorer.” Read the full obituary on TIME.com. Photograph by Ralph Morse—The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images #johnglenn #nasa #astronaut