he asked the boss at johnson for his next ride and never got an answer. he couldn t get a flight assignment. i think after some disappointment and hesitation he decided to put his chips into the political world and pursue a chip there. he had a bathroom accident that knocked him out of his first campaign with a hospitalization. it wasn t until 7 that he became a senator. it was great to have a guy in the senate who new space policy backwards and forwards. he was a great advocate for human space exploration. i think that s where his value was most appreciated by all the astronauts. rusty, let me ask you about the training for that mission when he was a much older man. did he say it was particularly difficult for him to go through that rigorous training before he went up in space? uma, i can t speak to that directly but tom can. perhaps, tom, you can fill in the training for his second mission.
when we are gone, another generation will say our world is better because, for a brief time, we lived. it has been said that people come into our lives for a reason, and i think we have all been blessed by the extraordinary life of john glenn. so i got my private pilot s license in the spring of 1941. and then pearl harbor occurred. a date which will live in infamy. i knew what my responsibilities were at that time. my dad and mother weren t too keen for me dropping out of school at that time, but it was my duty to do and i did it.
brought their children here today who may not remember his heroic accomplishments, but they sure have heard about them. we ve been watching movies about john glenn s life, and he s very, very interested in what john glenn achieved. i hope in some way he ll follow in john glenn s footsteps with whatever he does in his life. what do you want to be when you grow up? an inventor. what do you want to invent? new spaceships. in a way you ll be carrying on the legacy of john glenn. yeah. that kid walking around in his astronaut suit has been stealing the show here at ohio state university. one of the most touching moments yesterday was the moment when john glenn s window, 96-year-old annie glenn showed up to pay her respects, actually touching his casket at the ohio statehouse. they were married for 73 years. childhood sweethearts actually. they met in a play pen.
can say unequivocally that we re standing on john glenn s shoulders as bee pursue a journey to mars. a journey that would not be possible without his bravery and sel selfless dedication. i know that and countless other astronauts who had the privilege of following senator glenn into space can pinpoint his remarkable accomplishment as the first american to orbit earth as the seed of our aspirations. even in his 70s he continued to break barriers taking to space again in the space shuttle. i was so proud to see this american soar on the sts95 mission. just as with his first flight, he planted a seed that someday americans from all walks of life might experience space and the wonder of our planet from orbit and see it as a unified hold. kennedy space center director bob cabana, another marine,
vu, some 40-year-old, almost, sense of deja vu. reporter: he was born july 18, 1921 in cambridge, ohio and attended muss keying gum college. after the japanese attacked pearl harbor he signed up for the aviation cadet program and became a marine corps pilot long before senator john glenn landed in our nation s capital, he served in world war ii flying 59 successful missions. offensive years later this leather neck was ready to fly sorties again this time over north korea. after serving in korea, glenn attended test pilot school at the naval air test center in maryland. here he gained early national recognition by setting the transcontinental speed record from los angeles to work in 3 hours and 23 minutes. by the late 1950s, the u.s. manned space program was just being conceived. john glenn was selected as one of the first seven astronauts for project mercury.