On Oct. 29, 1998, John Glenn, a sitting U.S. senator for the state of Ohio, returned to space nearly 40 years after becoming one of the first NASA astronauts.
John Glenn, Jr. was chosen to be one of the first seven NASA astronauts in 1959, after flying nearly 150 combat missions through World War II and the Korean War. The pilot also made the first nonstop supersonic flights across the U.S.
As an astronaut, Glenn notched a win for the U.S. in the Space Race against the Soviet Union by piloting Friendship 7, a spacecraft that orbited the earth three times in five hours.
In 1964 he ran for the U.S. Senate to represent Ohio but had to drop out after he injured himself in a fall. He then went on to pilot another crucial, pioneering American effort by joining the board of RC Cola.
After another failed run, he’d eventually win the seat in 1970. He won reelection three times. A year before his retirement from the Senate, he boarded the space shuttle Discovery and returned to space.
At 77 years old, he was the oldest person to ever travel in space, even participating in a study on aging-related health issues while on the voyage. He died in 2016.
Read more about Glenn at History.com and the NASA website.
