Space Station Crew Pays Tribute to John Glenn

Aboard the International Space Station, Expedition 50 Commander Shane Kimbrough and Flight Engineer Peggy Whitson of NASA paid tribute to American legend John Glenn in a downlink message from the orbital outpost Dec. 9. Glenn, the last surviving Mercury 7 astronaut, former Ohio Senator and the oldest human to fly in space, died Dec. 8 at the age of 95. Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth aboard Friendship 7 on Feb. 20, 1962. Thirty-six years later, on Oct. 29, 1998, Glenn returned to space at the age of 77 aboard the shuttle Discovery on the STS-95 mission.