In Memoriam: Pictures From John Glenn's Incredible Life

“I’m not interested in my legacy. I made up a word: ‘live-acy.’ I’m more interested in living.”

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Space suit clad John Glenn poses for a portrait in 1959.

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John Glenn practices, in a full flightsuit, in a mock Project Mercury space capsule at the Langley Research Center, Virginia, 1959.

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John Glenn performs a series of tests at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, 1962. On Feb. 20, 1962, Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth, as pilot of the 'Friendship 7' Mercury space mission.

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John Glenn strapped into a centrifuge during a simulated space flight in 1962.

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John Glenn and technicians inspect artwork that will be painted on the outside of his Mercury spacecraft. Glenn nicknamed his capsule "Friendship 7". After orbiting the Earth 3 times, Friendship 7 landed in the Atlantic Ocean 4 hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds later.

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The original seven Project Mercury astronauts: front row, left to right, are Walter M. Schirra, Jr., Donald "Deke" K. Slayton, John Glenn Jr., and M. Scott Carpenter. Back row, left to right, are Alan Shepard Jr., Virgil I. "Gus" Grissom, and Gordon Copper.

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The launch of Friendship 7 on Feb. 20, 1962.

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Fish eye view of John Glenn training in a mock up of the planned space capsule.

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Friendship 7 spacecraft is retrieved from the Atlantic Ocean following John Glenn's space mission.

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Astronaut John Glenn smiles after his successful space flight.

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View down New York City's Broadway of the ticker tape parade that greeted astronaut John Glenn's motorcade in honor of his Mercury-Atlas 6 space mission, 1962.

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Vice President Lyndon Johnson watches as John Glenn shakes hands with President John F. Kennedy, on the day Kennedy presented Glenn with NASA's Distinguished Service Medal in Cape Canaveral, Florida, 1962.

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Crowds gather (left) to give a hero's welcome to American astronaut John Glenn during a homecoming parade in New Concord, Ohio, on March 3, 1962. President John F. Kennedy (right) rides with astronaut John Glenn on their way to a presentation in Glenn's honor in Cape Canaveral, Florida.

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John Glenn waves to the crowd on his way to speak to a joint session of Congress today. Seated with him in back of the car is his wife Annie. In front of them are Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson and Carolyn, the astronaut's daughter.

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Ohio democratic Senator John Glenn at his desk in his Capitol Hill office in 1983.

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John Glenn speaks from the steps of the Jefferson County Courthouse in Birmingham, Alabama, during his campaign for the Democratic Presidential nomination in March, 1984.

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John Glenn trains for a space mission aboard the shuttle Discovery in Oct. 1998, in Houston, Texas. John Glenn returns to space aboard Discovery as part of a scientific study on aging. Along with his crew mates he had to go through training like he had to do years before.

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John Glenn gives a thumbs up on his arrival at Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility in 1998 aboard a T-38 jet.

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John Glenn speaks with his crew during a break in crew escape training in June 1998, at NASA's Johnson Space Center In Houston.

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The space shuttle Discovery lifts from its launch pad with a crew of seven astronauts, including John Glenn.

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John Glenn becomes the oldest person in space during the STS-95 mission on board the shuttle Discovery, 1998.

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STS-95 Payload Specialist John Glenn positions himself to take photos from the Discovery's aft flight deck windows on Flight Day 3.

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President Barack Obama awards the Medal of Freedom to former astronaut John Glenn during a ceremony in the East Room of the White House in Washington. Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth who later spent 24 years representing Ohio in the Senate, died Thursday, Dec. 8, 2016, at the age of 95.

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