John Glenn's death has sparked remembrances of the man whose varied life as an astronaut and U.S. senator made him an American icon.
But he was more than a risk-taker and statesman. He was better than all of us. Here are some interesting facts about the American hero:
He orbited the globe more than 100 times
Glenn, the first American to orbit the earth, would do it more than 100 times.
He first circled the globe in 1962, when he went around the world three times and then plunged into the Atlantic Ocean. In a later trip, he would circle the globe another 134 times.
He's the oldest person to go into space
In 1998, the 77-year-old climbed aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, becoming the oldest person ever to go into space. NASA did a number of medical tests on Glenn in preparation for the flight and after the trip.
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