Godspeed, John Glenn

John Glenn died Thursday, December 8, 2016. He was 95. For those of us who grew up watching that heroic band of US astronauts break into space, his loss leaves us orphans of a sort. We remember that 1962 flight, when as the first US astronaut to orbit the Earth, John Glenn became an all-American hero and was thrust into a long career, culminating with becoming at 77 the oldest person ever to go into space. Glenn had many hats -- he was a World War II and Korean War Marine fighter pilot, an astronaut, the last man thus far to set foot on the Moon, and a US Senator for 24 years. But, John Glenn never forgot Ohio or his wife, Annie, and family. He was the steady rock in the iconic group of original Mercury 7 astronauts and the last of them to leave us. But it was that first day of American orbital space exploration that we have seared in our memories. Wherever we were -- schools had TVs brought in, business stopped to watch, friends gathered in living rooms -- we paused to pray and to watch the most extraordinary event any of us had ever known, a man was actually going to try to orbit the earth. "Godspeed, John Glenn," fellow astronaut Scott Carpenter radioed just before Glenn thundered off the Cape Canaveral launch pad that is now a National Historic Landmark. John Glenn was 40 years old. We remember his professional radio message : "Roger, the clock is operating, we're underway." His orbital flight lasted 4 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds. Years later, he explained that he responded to Scottie Carpenter that way because he didn't feel like he had lifted off and it was the only way he knew he had launched. During the flight, Glenn uttered a phrase that he would repeat frequently throughout life: "Zero G, and I feel fine." In 2012, Glenn told the Associated Press during the celebration of the 50th anniversary of his first flight : "It still seems so vivid to me. I still can sort of pseudo feel some of those same sensations I had back in those days during launch and all." John Glenn said he was often asked if he was afraid, and he replied : "If you are talking about fear that overcomes what you are supposed to do, no. You've trained very hard for those flights." That was John Glenn. We who were there watching were "scared stiff" for him during his daring flight, but he was doing his job. He and the other original Mercury 7 astronauts taught us young Americans a lot -- preparation, determination, fearlessness, love of country, pride in duty -- and the strength and humility that reflects the best of American character. The next generation is now in charge and soon they will give way to our grandchildren's generation of Americans. But, John Glenn and the Mercury 7 astronauts leave a legacy and a challenge that they must rise to meet if America is to remain the world's leader in technology and in honorable service to country and humankind. • • • Dear readers, as John Glenn's Mercury capsule descended for an ocean landing, mission control feared that its heat shield was peeling off. Well past four hours into the flight, Glenn was told of the problem and knew he could be burned alive in an instant, but Glenn stayed focused even as fiery pieces of his spacecraft flew by his indow. There were no computers in his capsule -- think about that! -- and he had had to take manual control of his space capsule earlier. As Glenn later said : “You didn’t really have time to think about it. Long before you actually got to the flight itself, you sort of made peace with mortality." In the hours since I learned of John Glenn's death, one speech, one phrase, has kept coming back to me. I want to share it with you. It is the address given to the nation by President Ronald Reagan on January 28, 1986, after the "Challenger" space shuttle exploded during launch before the eyes of a paralyzed America. President Reagan's immortal words seem to fit today as we mourn the passing of ohn Glenn. • "Ladies and gentlemen, I'd planned to speak to you tonight to report on the state of the Union, but the events of earlier today have led me to change those plans. Today is a day for mourning and remembering. Nancy and I are pained to the core by the tragedy of the shuttle Challenger. We know we share this pain with all of the people of our country. This is truly a national loss.Nineteen years ago, almost to the day, we lost three astronauts in a terrible accident on the ground. But we've never lost an astronaut in flight; we've never had a tragedy like this. And perhaps we've forgotten the courage it took for the crew of the shuttle. But they, the Challenger Seven, were aware of the dangers, but overcame them and did their jobs brilliantly. We mourn seven heroes: Michael Smith, Dick Scobee, Judith Resnik, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Gregory Jarvis, and Christa McAuliffe. We mourn their loss as a nation together. For the families of the seven, we cannot bear, as you do, the full impact of this tragedy. But we feel the loss, and we're thinking about you so very much. Your loved ones were daring and brave, and they had that special grace, that special spirit that says, "Give me a challenge, and I'll meet it with joy." They had a hunger to explore the universe and discover its truths. They wished to serve, and they did. They served all of us. We've grown used to wonders in this century. It's hard to dazzle us. But for 25 years the United States space program has been doing just that. We've grown used to the idea of space, and perhaps we forget that we've only just begun. We're still pioneers. They, the members of the Challenger crew, were pioneers. And I want to say something to the schoolchildren of America who were watching the live coverage of the shuttle's takeoff. I know it is hard to understand, but sometimes painful things like this happen. It's all part of the process of exploration and discovery. It's all part of taking a chance and expanding man's horizons. The future doesn't belong to the fainthearted; it belongs to the brave. The Challenger crew was pulling us into the future, and we'll continue to follow them. I've always had great faith in and respect for our space program, and what happened today does nothing to diminish it. We don't hide our space program. We don't keep secrets and cover things up. We do it all up front and in public. That's the way freedom is, and we wouldn't change it for a minute. We'll continue our quest in space. There will be more shuttle flights and more shuttle crews and, yes, more volunteers, more civilians, more teachers in space. Nothing ends here; our hopes and our journeys continue. I want to add that I wish I could talk to every man and woman who works for NASA or who worked on this mission and tell them: 'Your dedication and professionalism have moved and impressed us for decades. And we know of your anguish. We share it.' There's a coincidence today. On this day 390 years ago, the great explorer Sir Francis Drake died aboard ship off the coast of Panama. In his lifetime the great frontiers were the oceans, and an historian later said, 'He lived by the sea, died on it, and was buried in it.' Well, today we can say of the Challenger crew: Their dedication was, like Drake's, complete. The crew of the space shuttle Challenger honored us by the manner in which they lived their lives. We will never forget them, nor the last time we saw them, this morning, as they prepared for their journey and waved goodbye and 'slipped the surly bonds of earth' to 'touch the face of God.' " • Godspeed, John Glenn. (Saturday Politics will return next week)