John Glenn: A Memoir
| Author | : | |
| Rating | : | 4.16 (753 Votes) |
| Asin | : | 0553581570 |
| Format Type | : | paperback |
| Number of Pages | : | 576 Pages |
| Publish Date | : | 2016-09-20 |
| Language | : | English |
DESCRIPTION:
Five Stars Awesome book!. Christoph Stappert said Delightful biography, but short on space hardware. John Glenn became the first American in orbit when he circled the Earth three times aboard Friendship 7. The most senior of the original Mercury astronauts, he was trumpeted as a hero upon return, but left the space program shortly thereafter because NASA wouldn't give th. A great life story Ken John Glenn seems driven by an inner unquestioning certainty about integrity, patriotism, and devotionto his wife and to his country. This man's degree of convinction to adhere to such decent values, seems so foreign to us in the context of today's social and political env
Then came several years in international business, followed by a twenty-four year career as a U.S. Senator-and in 1998 a return to space for his remarkable Discover mission at the age of seventy-seven.. Always a gifted flier, it was during the war that he contemplated the unlimited possibilities of aviation and its frontiers.We see the early days of NASA, where he first served as a backup pilot for astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom. But these two historical events only bracketed a life that covers the sweep of an extraordinary century.John Glenn's autobiography spans the seminal events of the twentieth century. He took these values with him as a marine fighter pilot during World War II and into the skies over Korea, for which he would be decorated. Nearly four decades later, as the world's oldest astronaut, his courage reveted a nation. He was the first astronaut to orbit the Earth. It is a story that begins with his childhood in Ohio where he learned the importance of family, community, and patriotism. In 1962 Glenn piloted the Mercury-Atlas 6 Friendship 7 spacecraft on the first manned orbital mission of the United States
The final pages detail Glenn's 1998 mission aboard the space shuttle Discovery at the age of 77. Following a section on his youth, Glenn describes being a fighter pilot in the Second World War and Korea (where he lived in the same Quonset hut as baseball legend Ted Williams), as well as a test pilot. It didn't." Upon his return to earth, Glenn made a few abortive runs for the Senate. The highlight of the book is Project Mercury, the early NASA effort that hurled Glenn 150 miles above the planet in a tiny capsule--"flying from one day into the next and back again." In less than five hours, Glenn observed three sunsets and sunrises. But he stumbled and had to quit. His life story is simply told, not terribly reflective but enormously compelling: an Ohio boy grows up to become the first American to orbit the earth, takes a shot at the presidency but