# John Glenn has died **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [December 8, 2016, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226 "2016-12-08T20:43:01Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omar\_Little](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/omar_little/32/269_2.png) [@Omar\_Little](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omar_Little)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/1 "2016-12-08T20:43:01Z")
[http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/12/john-glenn/john-glenn.html](http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/12/john-glenn/john-glenn.html) dead at 95 ---
**Author:** ![Encinitas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ee7513/32.png) [@Encinitas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Encinitas)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/2 "2016-12-08T20:43:26Z")
The last surviving member of the Mercury 7 astronauts [John Glenn](http://www.dispatch.com/content/stories/local/2016/12/john-glenn/john-glenn.html) has died. ---
**Author:** ![Gedd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gedd/32/4938_2.png) [@Gedd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gedd)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/3 "2016-12-08T20:50:33Z")
Dang it! Is this year over yet?! But really, that guy had one hell of a life. Born in a small town, married a high school(?) sweetheart, fought in two wars . . . Then became an astronaut, senator, national hero, got an airport named after him, and plenty more most of us can only dream of. _That’s_ the kind of person to look up to. ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/4 "2016-12-08T20:51:06Z")
Oh damn. As if 2016 weren’t already a shitty year. Godspeed, John Glenn. ---
**Author:** ![leftfield6](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leftfield6/32/18780_2.png) [@leftfield6](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leftfield6)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/5 "2016-12-08T20:52:27Z")
"Good luck, Have a safe flight, and…Once again, Godspeed, John Glenn. _John Carpenter_ ☹ So few left alive from the glory days of NASA. ---
**Author:** ![DCnDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dcndc/32/2842_2.png) [@DCnDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DCnDC)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 8:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/6 "2016-12-08T20:55:18Z")
He lived a very long and honorable life worthy of celebration. Truly a great man. We need a whole lot more just like him. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/7 "2016-12-08T21:22:16Z")
Now he really has “slipped the surly bonds of earth…Put out [his] hand, and touched the face of God.” [Cite](http://www.davidpbrown.co.uk/poetry/john-magee.html) ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/8 "2016-12-08T21:31:47Z")
Well, crap. :mad: He was one of my heroes in my childhood. I had a GI Joe Mercury capsule that came with a 45 RPM of bits of the CAPCOM recording of Mercury-Atlas 6 (_Friendship 7_). The GI Joe itself didn’t look anything like Glenn, but I just assumed it was and flew many an imaginary space mission with Col. Glenn. “Zero G, and I feel fine.” – John H. Glenn ---
**Author:** ![rbroome](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/838e76/32.png) [@rbroome](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rbroome)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/9 "2016-12-08T21:39:39Z")
God speed John Glenn. dang, 2016 is an awful year. ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/10 "2016-12-08T21:57:45Z")
Duplicate threads merged. ---
**Author:** ![Battle\_Pope](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/4bbf92/32.png) [@Battle\_Pope](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Battle_Pope)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 10:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/11 "2016-12-08T22:02:15Z")
Damn. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_T-Cups](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ed655f/32.png) [@Sir\_T-Cups](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_T-Cups)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/12 "2016-12-08T22:22:51Z")
Living the life he lived, being with his wife for over 70(!!!) years and making it to your 90s seems like a helluva time. I won’t count this as tragic or a fist-shaking “2016!!!” death because the dude was 93 and accomplished more than half of my generation…but I will say the world lost a great one today. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/13 "2016-12-08T22:31:28Z")
I’ve been in a couple of threads here where folks have asked what superheroes would be like if they were real-world guys with plausible abilities, and I’ve said _“John Glenn”_. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/14 "2016-12-08T23:29:02Z")
I had heard just this morning that he was in the hospital. I hope his passing was a peaceful one. R.I.P. John. You were one of my heroes when I was growing up. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 11:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/15 "2016-12-08T23:40:54Z")
Man, do I remember him and his orbit of the planet. I still have the Anchorage paper with the headline “GLENN DOES IT!” I was hoping it would have been Chuck Yeager, but he did us proud. ---
**Author:** ![Sam\_Stone](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Sam\_Stone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sam_Stone)\ **Post date:** [December 8, 2016, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/16 "2016-12-08T23:44:58Z")
Speaking of Chuck Yeager, he’s around the same age and still going strong. Still flying airplanes, last I heard, and still has better than 20/20 vision. ---
**Author:** ![purplehearingaid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7bcc69/32.png) [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/17 "2016-12-09T00:39:35Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > Dang it! Is this year over yet?! > > But really, that guy had one hell of a life. Born in a small town, married a high school(?) sweetheart, fought in two wars . . . Then became an astronaut, senator, national hero, got an airport named after him, and plenty more most of us can only dream of. > > _That’s_ the kind of person to look up to. He sure did a live a very rich and full life . We lost a great hero ! ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/18 "2016-12-09T01:09:57Z")
> [@Gedd](#): > > But really, that guy had one hell of a life. Born in a small town, married a high school(?) sweetheart, fought in two wars . . . Then became an astronaut, senator, national hero, got an airport named after him, and plenty more most of us can only dream of. > > _That’s_ the kind of person to look up to. Quite so! Though of course it’s always sad to see a well regarded figure go, here we had someone who had made the most of his passage through this world and was an inspiration for others to try to do so as well. Well done, John Glenn. (And yes, the faces of the 60s Space Race are quickly coming up against the barrier that cannot be broken… The Mercury Seven are now all beyond this universe. Only two of their Vostok contemporaries remain. And we’re down to 7 of the 12 moonwalkers. ) ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/19 "2016-12-09T01:14:16Z")
And by all accounts, his life was scandal-free. Had he not had to leave NASA due to a concussion in 1964 from slipping in the bathtub :eek: :rolleyes: , I really believe that he would have been on the first moon mission, if not the first man to walk on the moon. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [December 9, 2016, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226/20 "2016-12-09T01:35:30Z")
God Speed John Glenn. You outdid yourself. Bravo Sir. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/john-glenn-has-died/774226.md?page=2)