Here is a look at the life of John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth.

Personal: Birth date: July 18, 1921

Birth place: Cambridge, Ohio

Birth name: John Herschel Glenn, Jr.

Father: John Glenn, Sr., a plumber

Mother: Clara (Sproat) Glenn

Marriage: Anna Margaret (Castor) Glenn (April 6, 1943-present)

Children: Carolyn Ann, March 19, 1947; John David, December 13, 1945

Education: Muskingum College, 1939-1942

Military service: U.S. Marine Corps, Colonel, 1943-1965

Other Facts: Flew a total of 149 missions during World War II and the Korean War and received multiple medals and decorations, including the Distinguished Flying Cross on six occasions.

Timeline: March 1942 - Enlists in the Naval Aviation Cadet Program and upon completing flight training in 1943, becomes a pilot for the U.S. Marines.

1944 - Flies 59 combat missions during his World War II service.

1953 - Flies a total of 90 combat missions in Korea, 63 missions with Marine Fighter Squadron 311 and 27 missions with the Fifth U.S. Air Force.

1954-1956 - After the Korean conflict, Glenn attends test pilot school at the Naval Air Test Center in Maryland.

1957 - Sets the speed record flying from Los Angeles to New York in three hours and 23 minutes.

April 1959 - NASA selects Glenn as one of seven astronauts for Project Mercury.

1961 - Glenn, the oldest member of the group, serves as backup pilot when fellow astronauts Alan B. Shepard, Jr., and Virgil I. Grissom each make suborbital flights.

February 20, 1962 - An Atlas rocket launches his space capsule, the Friendship 7. Glenn becomes the first American to orbit Earth, circling the globe three times in four hours and 56 minutes.

March 1, 1962 - The ticker-tape parade after Glenn's Mercury flight is considered the largest ever in New York, where an estimated 3,474 tons of confetti and ticker-tape fall along a seven-mile route.

January 1964 - Resigns from NASA's astronaut program.

1964 - Enters the Ohio Democratic primary to challenge the incumbent Democratic senator, Stephen M. Young but withdraws after being injured in a fall.

1965 - Retires from active service in the U.S. Marine Corps to enter the business world.

1965-1970 - He is vice president and then president of Royal Crown Cola.

1970 - Glenn enters the Democratic primary for the U.S. Senate but loses.