--- title: Video: How John Glenn Honored by Mike Massimino description: A two-time shuttle veteran reflects on the role the first American to orbit the Earth had on all of the astronauts who would follow canonical: https://time.com/4408820/john-glenn-mike-massimino-astronaut/ author: Kenneth Bachor article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-07-18T11:00:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T12:10:56.561Z article:section: History og:title: Watch: How a 77-Year-Old Astronaut Inspired a New Generation og:description: Two-time shuttle veteran Michael Massimino reflects on the impact of John Glenn og:url: https://time.com/4408820/john-glenn-mike-massimino-astronaut/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt59c4568299838e4e/69889c2f5f570f30f5b21ba7/john-glenn-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: john-glenn-facebook og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch: How a 77-Year-Old Astronaut Inspired a New Generation twitter:description: Two-time shuttle veteran Michael Massimino reflects on the impact of John Glenn twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt59c4568299838e4e/69889c2f5f570f30f5b21ba7/john-glenn-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # How a 77-Year-Old Astronaut Inspired a New Generation by [Kenneth Bachor](https://time.com/author/kenneth-bachor/) and [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/) Jul 18, 2016 11:00 AM UTC  Tony Ranze—AFP/Getty Images by [Kenneth Bachor](https://time.com/author/kenneth-bachor/) and [Jeffrey Kluger](https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/) Jul 18, 2016 11:00 AM UTC John Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth six months before Mike Massimino was even born. But 40 years later, when Massimino made his own first trip to space, he felt the gravitational, inspirational tug of what Glenn had accomplished so many years earlier. On the occasion of Glenn’s 95th birthday, on July 18, Massimino reflects on an American legend. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4408820/john-glenn-mike-massimino-astronaut/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4408820/john-glenn-mike-massimino-astronaut/"},"headline":"How a 77-Year-Old Astronaut Inspired a New Generation","datePublished":"2016-07-18T11:00:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T12:10:56.561Z","description":"Two-time shuttle veteran Michael J. Massimino reflects on the impact the first American to orbit the Earth had on all of the astronauts who would follow","url":"https://time.com/4408820/john-glenn-mike-massimino-astronaut/","keywords":["video","Birthday","john glenn"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt59c4568299838e4e/69889c2f5f570f30f5b21ba7/john-glenn-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Kenneth Bachor","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/kenneth-bachor/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Jeffrey Kluger","jobTitle":"Editor at Large","url":"https://time.com/author/jeffrey-kluger/"}],"articleSection":"History","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt59c4568299838e4e/69889c2f5f570f30f5b21ba7/john-glenn-facebook.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"john-glenn-facebook","caption":"","creditText":"Tony Ranze—AFP/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/history/","name":"History"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/video/","name":"video"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4408820/john-glenn-mike-massimino-astronaut/","name":"How a 77-Year-Old Astronaut Inspired a New Generation"}}]}] ```