Like a hatchling breaking out of its egg, the naked, freckled top of John Glenn's head squeezed through the neck of his bright orange flight suit. Eyes closed, his face stretched and distorted as it popped into the light. In a gesture he repeats often, he reached up and smoothed the few remaining wisps of white hair up there.
"This is the worst part of the whole trip, getting in and out of this darn rig," Glenn, 77, grumped to a young crew mate as they prepared to crawl through a shuttle hatch for another day of training.
Retiring U.S. Sen. John Herschel Glenn Jr. – America's first man in orbit – was at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, where he has spent much of the steamy Texas summer and fall training diligently for his second space flight in 36 years. His nine-day ride aboard the shuttle Discovery is scheduled for an Oct. 29 liftoff.
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