NASA astronaut and American legend John Glenn dies at 95

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- Col. John H. Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth and long time senator from Ohio, died on Thursday at the James Cancer Hospital in Columbus, Ohio. He was 95.

John Glenn last week in Washington, D.C. (NASA)

On February 20, 1962, John Herschel Glenn, Jr. became a national treasure as he lifted-off inside his cramped Mercury spacecraft known as Friendship 7 to begin America's first three orbits of manned spaceflight.

“The Ohio State University community deeply mourns the loss of John Glenn, Ohio’s consummate public servant and a true American hero," said Ohio State University President Michael V. Drake. "He leaves an undiminished legacy as one of the great people of our time."

A Marine fighter pilot during World War II, Glenn began his aviation career in 1943 and flew nearly sixty combat flights over the southern Pacific waters. He also served during the Korean War piloting ninety combat flights in both a F9F Panther and a F-86 Sabre jet.

Later at age 77, Glenn became the oldest person to fly in space as "six astronauts and one American legend" launched aboard space shuttle Discovery in October 1998. The senior astronaut had remained active in promoting America's space future through 2016, including speaking out on the "premature" cancellation of the shuttle program.

Born in Cambridge, Ohio on July 18, 1921, Glenn later attended Muskingum College earning a Bachelor of Science degree. He is survived by his childhood sweetheart, Anna M. (nee Castor). The couple were married for seventy-three years, resulting in two children and two grandchildren.

Kenesaw State, NASA team to promote STEM education

ATLANTA -- The growth of women entering highly competitive fields in science and technology are forcing some colleges and universities to look to the preteens of today for the jobs of the next decade.

A group of sixth graders on Monday attend a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) educational workshop hosted by Kennesaw State University as the school looks to inspire girls interested in STEM-related fields.

"We are encouraging girls to think about a STEM career, and so we want to start with our middle school girls," said Gilda Lyon, STEM coordinator at the Georgia Department of Education. "We have lots of workshops that encourage girls to go into STEM careers and it's all very hands on so that girls can see that it's a lot of fun to build and create and produce things."

One of NASA's educator-astronauts was in attendance to help motivate and give advice to over two-hundred students from across north Georgia.

Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger flew aboard space shuttle Discovery for a one week visit aboard the International Space Station in 2010, and offered words of encouragement and inspiration to the students.

"We have real issues that we are dealing with in our society that have an answer in the STEM fields, and we need talented men and women to answer these question," Lindenburger pointed out to this aerospace journalist.

Book Review: 'Orbit of Discovery' salutes the Buckeye astronauts

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Ring up one well deserved thumbs up for the Buckeye State.

A new book by NASA astronaut Don A. Thomas chronicles a group of Ohioans who paved the way in aviation and space, and includes an up close look at his own flight aboard space shuttle Discovery.

A four-time space shuttle astronaut, Thomas describes the story first hand as his all-Ohio flight crew overcame a troublesome woodpecker to fly one of the space agency's "more important" missions in Orbit of Discovery: The All-Ohio Space Shuttle Mission.

The 1995 shuttle mission was set to become America's 100th human space flight, however an unexpected delay by nature forced an interesting turn of events resulting in a humorous outcome.

"I wanted to share this story because I always thought STS-70 was a cool story -- it's the woodpecker flight, it's the all-Ohio mission," Thomas recounted to this aerospace journalist at the Smithsonian Air and Space museum in Dulles, Virginia. "It wasn't the sexiest mission in the world. We didn't fix Hubble (Telescope), we didn't build the space station. We deployed a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) that replaced the one lost on Challenger so I thought this was an important mission."

As the astronaut and I stood next to NASA's third space worthy orbiter, Thomas pointed out the symbolism above as he pointed to the massive TDRS mock-up hanging high above Discovery in the Smithsonian hanger and exclaimed, "This was our STS-70 mission -- Discovery with TDRS high above her."

Published by the University of Akron (OH) Ringtaw Books, the 400-page hardbound book takes you into the mind of a veteran astronaut as he describes his time as an astronaut training for the STS-70 mission. Thomas also narrates his flight aboard the space shuttle with interesting details and fun anecdotes.

The Cleveland native discusses his crew's disappointment as their flight to deploy the huge communications satellite is delayed by a Northern Flicker Woodpecker who single handily held up the mission by pecking over 200 holes into their space shuttle's massive external fuel tank.

The book's candid discussion on how a wayward woodpecker forced Discovery back to the assembly building for necessary repairs sets the stage for some comedic flare by mission control once they arrived on orbit and deployed TDRS G.

Co-written by journalist Mike Bartell, Orbit of Discovery gives the average reader an insightful look into Thomas' feelings and thoughts as he describes the dramatic lift-off, and includes the pros and cons on what floating in microgravity feels like.

"When I flew on STS-70, it was my second mission and the first time I launched up on the flight deck," Thomas recalled during our interview. "To be on the flight deck, I had a small mirror on my knee and I could look out the window and into the (launch pad) flame pit."

Thomas continued, "To watch the engines start up, and to watch with such violence the flame and smoke shooting out of the flame pit... here I am about 150-feet above watching it and I think my jaw dropped, and I thought, 'Look at what's going on back there'."

I asked Don if he thought all the woodpecker humor became too cheesy. "Not too cheesy, we all enjoyed it on the crew," he said. "We got a big laugh out of it. We weren't too embarrassed by it and we decided to embrace it. Once we deployed the satellite, it was open season on woodpeckers and the jokes just flowed afterwards."

The book notes with statistics the Ohio astronauts of yesteryear through the current ones flying today. Ohio Senator John Glenn, America's first human to orbit earth, takes to pen to illustrate a beautifully written foreword giving great insight into the state's historic aviators.

Among the 26 notable Ohio astronauts included are: Neil Armstrong, the first human to set foot upon the moon; Dr. Judy Resnik, America's second woman in space and the first female to fly aboard Discovery; and Dr. Sunny Williams who holds the most time in space by an Ohioan, 322 days, and the most time spacewalking by a female, nearly 51 hours.

Orbit of Discovery is set to arrive in book stores in time for the holidays, and just days ahead of the 110th anniversary of the first powered airplane flight.

The book also gives a tip of the hat to the two Ohio brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright, who left their home in Dayton, Ohio in 1902 for the winds at Kitty Hawk. The pair later soared into the history books on December 17, 1903.

Loaded with thirty-two pages of colorful images, including NASA and private crew photographs, Orbit of Discovery is a treasure chest of incredible memories giving the reader an insiders track on what it took to fly aboard humankind's greatest flying machine ever built.


(Charles Atkeison reports on aerospace, science and technology. Follow his updates via Twitter @AbsolutSpaceGuy.)

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