United States Postal Covers of John Glenn's Space Accomplishments

U.S. POST OFICE DEPARTMENT on 20 February 1962 issued a 4¢ Project Mercury commemorative stamp (shown on this First Day Cover) showing Glenn's Friendship 7 space capsule, with the inscribed caption "U.S. Man in Space". In 1959, Glenn was chosen for the Project Mercury spaceflight programme, and became the first American to orbit the Earth on 20 February 1962.

John Herschel Glenn Jr was born 18 July 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio, and studied engineering at Muskingum College in New Concord, Ohio. Entering the Marine Corps in 1943, he trained as a pilot and flew 59 combat missions during World War II. He later flew 90 missions during the Korean War.

After resigning from NASA in 1964, Glenn worked in business for 10 years before successfully running for a U.S. Senate seat from Ohio. He served four consecutive six-year terms, retiring in 1998.

 

While still a U.S. Senator, however, Glenn trained as a payload specialist for a mission on the space shuttle Discovery, which went into space on 29 October 1998. It was his second spaceflight, and at age 77, he became the oldest person to travel into space.

USPS issued 2 May 2000 a 33¢ stamp (shown on this First Day Cover of Glenn), in the Celebrate the Century series, honouring this feat, with the theme "Return to Space." The front of the stamp pictures the Discovery in orbit. The reverse reads: "In 1962, aboard the Mercury Friendship 7, John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. His 1998 return to space at age 77, on the shuttle Discovery, heightened interest in the space program."

Glenn was and remains one of the few living Americans to see his accomplishments commemorated on a United States stamp twice in his lifetime.

Source: Linn's Stamps