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My Effect on the World

I believe my life has made an impact on the world. My space mission gave future astronauts and scientists the hope to succeed in space. As a Marine, I fought in World War II and the Korean War. I feel that I have set an example of patriotism to those who follow behind.

Characteristics

I hope my life will inspire people to be courageous and patriotic. I took a risk and chanced my life to be the first person to orbit the Earth. It took patience and perseverance to stand the tests and wait for my chance to become an astronaut. I was always very adventurous and ambitious. This is why I continued through all of the trials put before me and succeeded to make my dream of becoming an astronaut come true. Lastly, my family upbringing made me very patriotic. I served my country as a Marine, an astronaut, and as a senator. I hope I inspire you to reach for the stars, too!

Book Review

Paul Kupperberg has a very informative style of writing this biography. He was very organized in labeling the chapters of John Glenn's life. He gave me enough facts about John Glenn's life that I feel like I know him. This biography of John Glenn was published in 2004 and is in The Library of Congress. I would definitely read another book by Paul Kupperberg because he researches his subject matter thoroughly.

Interesting/Special

There are many interesting things about me. One is, I married my high school sweetheart, who was also a longtime family friend, Ann Margaret Castor. We had two lovely children, John David and Carolyn Ann, and two grandchildren. My wife and I are still married to this day.

Another one was when I took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida in the Friendship 7 on February 20, 1962. It was then I became the first American to orbit the Earth during the Mercury-Atlas 6 mission. I was the oldest of the seven Mercury astronauts at only forty. My experiences with space traveling weren't over quite yet.

One of my favorite experiences (but scariest) was during this Mercury-Atlas 6 mission when my instruments and the ship were giving us problems while in space. Mission control let me know right before re-entry into Earth's atmosphere that I had to fly the capsule in on my own because of an alarm indicating a serious problem with the ship. I made it safely to earth only to find out later it was a false alarm!