TODAY IN AVIATION HISTORY - OCTOBER 29, 1998 - THE FIRST AMERICAN TO ORBIT THE EARTH

Senator John Herschel Glenn, Jr., the first American to orbit the Earth, joined the Discovery STS-95 crew and returned to space. John Glenn was the oldest human to fly into space at the age of 77.

The STS-95 mission took 8 days, 21 hours, 44 minutes, and 2 seconds to complete. Senator Glenn's overall space mission time is 9 days, 2 hours, 39 minutes, 49 seconds, when combined with his orbital trip on the Mercury spacecraft Friendship 7 on February 20, 1961. He has orbited the Earth 137 times.