Glenn was the third U.S. astronaut in space and the first of them to get into orbit. He circled the Earth three times. The Soviet Union had put a man into orbit a year earlier in 1961.
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WATCH: President-elect Donald Trump talks about former astronaut and Senator John Glenn who passed away at the age of 95 Thursday.
Glenn then spent 24 years as a Democrat from Ohio in the Senate and briefly made a run for president in 1984. He returned to space in 1998, at age 77, aboard space shuttle Discovery.
He was the last survivor of the original Mercury 7 astronauts.
WATCH: Florida Senator Bill Nelson informs the U.S. Senate that former astronaut and Senator John Glenn has passed away at the age of 95.
WATCH: Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy speaks to the U.S. Senate after learning about the passing of friend John Glenn, recalling a story of how Glenn landed a plane they were in under strong wind conditions.