It is with heavy hearts that we inform you that American hero, astronaut and former U.S. Senator John Glenn has been hospitalized in Ohio for more than a week.
The 95-year old Glenn is at the James Cancer Center Hospital, but Hank Wilson of Ohio State University’s John Glenn College of Public Affairs said that Glenn doesn’t necessarily have cancer.
Sending positive thoughts and vibes to astronaut John Glenn. Get well soon! pic.twitter.com/JCSgGdx3yv
— Science Channel (@ScienceChannel) December 8, 2016
From CNN:
“Sen. Glenn is at The James Cancer Hospital at The Ohio State University (and) was admitted there more than a week ago,” Wilson wrote in an email. “I do not know his condition or illness or prognosis. I caution that even though Sen. Glenn is at The James that does not necessarily mean he has cancer.”
Glenn had heart valve replacement surgery in 2014.
He became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962.
Glenn piloted the Mercury space capsule, dubbed Friendship 7, and circled the planet three times in just under five hours on February 20, 1962. Of the original seven US astronauts who made up Project Mercury — Glenn, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Gordon Cooper, Scott Carpenter, Walter Schirra and Donald Slayton — Glenn is the last surviving member.
In the years prior to his career with NASA, Glenn flew 149 missions during World War II and the Korean War, and received multiple medals and decorations for his service.
After leaving NASA in 1964, he served as a U.S. Senator from Ohio between 1974 and 1999 as a Democrat and even sought the presidency in 1984. Glenn returned to space in 1998 at the age of 74, becoming the oldest person ever to travel to space, serving as a payload specialist aboard space shuttle Discovery.