John Glenn's Education Background

John Glenn is an United States senator for the state of Ohio, astronaut, and is famous for being the first American to orbit the Earth. He joined NASA’s Mercury program and orbited the Earth in 1962 in Friendship 7. EDUinReview will now take a look at Glenn’s education background.
Glenn was born on July 18, 1931 in Cambridge, Ohio. When he was two-years old, his family moved to New Concord, OH. The family built a large house, which was also used as a rooming house for Muskingum College students. After high school, Glenn attended Muskingum College himself, where he studied physics and chemistry. While at Muskingum, he also earned his pilot’s license.

In 1941, Pearl Harbor was attacked during World War II. Glenn decided to put his academic pursuits on hold to enlist in the military. He received naval training and was reassigned to the Marines. Originally, he flew transport planes, and later became a fighter pilot. He flew during WWII and the Korean War, earning a total of six distinguished flying crosses during his time in the military.
Glenn was accepted into NASA‘s space program in 1959, even though he still hadn’t completed his college degree. After orbiting the Earth, he received a hero’s welcome, which caught the Kennedy family’s attention. John F. Kennedy and Glenn quickly became friends. Partially due to this friendship, Glenn decided to pursue a career in politics. He became the United States Senator for the State of Ohio in 1974 and remained in the Senate for 24 years.
In 1998, Glenn again traveled into space as part of a NASA test concerning space travel and effects on the elderly. In 2010, he was named the fifth most popular space hero by the Space Foundation.