John Glenn John Glenn Colonel John Herschel Glenn Jr. (July 18, 1921 – December 8, 2016) was a United States Marine Corps aviator, engineer, astronaut, businessman, and politician. He was the first American to orbit the Earth, circling it three times in 1962. Following his retirement from NASA, he served from 1974 to 1999 as a Democratic United States Senator from Ohio. Before joining NASA, Glenn was a distinguished fighter pilot in World War II, China and Korea. He shot down three MiG-15s, and was awarded six Distinguished Flying Crosses and eighteen Air Medals. In 1957, he made the first supersonic transcontinental
James Glenn Beall James Glenn Beall James Glenn Beall (June 5, 1894 – January 14, 1971) was an American businessman and politician. A member of the Republican Party, he served as a U.S. Representative (1943–1953) and a U.S. Senator (1953–1965) from Maryland. J. Glenn Beall was born in Frostburg, Maryland, to Olin and Florence (née Glenn) Beall. He was a descendant of Colonel Ninian Beall, who immigrated from Scotland in 1658 as an indentured servant and eventually became wealthy landowner. His maternal grandfather served as a captain in the Confederate Army during the Civil War. As a child, Beall suffered from polio and