--- title: John Glenn Dead: See His Career in LIFE Magazine Covers description: Astronaut John Glenn died on Dec. 8 at 95. He was the first American to orbit the Earth. Browse his LIFE magazine covers here. canonical: https://time.com/4595461/astronaut-john-glenn-dead-life-magazine-covers/ author: Liz Ronk article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-12-08T22:40:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-05-11T04:50:24.216Z og:title: John Glenn Dead: See His Career in LIFE Magazine Covers og:description: Glenn has died at 95 og:url: https://time.com/4595461/astronaut-john-glenn-dead-life-magazine-covers/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c92d57c63c0b5a6/6988b24c5f570f4cebb2380b/john-glenn-life-cover-04.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: John Glenn LIFE Cover og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: John Glenn Dead: See His Career in LIFE Magazine Covers twitter:description: Glenn has died at 95 twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt3c92d57c63c0b5a6/6988b24c5f570f4cebb2380b/john-glenn-life-cover-04.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # See John Glenn's Career on the Cover of LIFE Magazine by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) and [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/) Dec 8, 2016 10:40 PM UTC  Feb.2, 1962 cover of LIFE magazine— astronaut John Glenn, "Making of a Brave Man." Feb.2, 1962 cover of LIFE magazine— astronaut John Glenn, "Making of a Brave Man."Ralph Morse—LIFE Magazine by [Liz Ronk](https://time.com/author/liz-ronk/) and [Olivia B. Waxman](https://time.com/author/olivia-b-waxman/) Dec 8, 2016 10:40 PM UTC Former Ohio U.S. Senator and astronaut [John Glenn](http://time.com/4594658/john-glenn-dead/)—the [first American to orbit the Earth](http://time.com/4594546/john-glenn-astronaut-history/) and the third in space—died on Thursday at 95. As the above gallery shows, the American hero was a fixture in LIFE Magazine throughout the Space Race era, as the U.S. strove to fulfill President John F. Kennedy’s promise to beat the Soviets to the Moon by the end of the 1960s. (The Soviet Union got a head start by successfully launching Sputnik I, the world’s first artificial satellite, on Oct. 4, 1957, and making Cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin the first human in space on April 12, 1961.) Glenn took this mission seriously. As he [told](https://books.google.com/books?id=ykQEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA84&dq=%22john+glenn%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi3h92JzeXQAhXI7iYKHSbwB%5FIQ6AEIPDAH#v=onepage&q=%22john%20glenn%22&f=false) LIFE in 1960, “Anyone who doesn’t want to be first doesn’t belong in this program.” Glenn became the first American to circle the globe on Feb. 20, 1962\. He did three loops in 4 hours and 56 minutes—at speeds of more than [17,000 mph.](https://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/about/bios/mercury%5Fmission.html) “Weightlessness, at least for a period of a few hours, is no problem at all in spaceflight,” he wrote in [a minute-by-minute story](https://books.google.com/books?id=RlUEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA2&dq=%22john+glenn%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj7mp%5FkuuXQAhUDRiYKHQczC00Q6AEIJDAB#v=onepage&q=%22john%20glenn%22&f=false) of the historic flight for LIFE’s March 9, 1962, issue. The essay’s title: _If You’re All Shook Up, You Shouldn’t Be There._ Another surprising, but inexplicable finding of the mission, were the greenish-yellow lights spotted during the first rays of sunrise as he was crossing the Pacific Ocean toward the U.S. Though Glenn wrote that he didn’t know what they were, they gave him an opportunity to summon not just his bravery but also his capacity to appreciate beauty: --- > “” ---  Sept. 14, 1959 cover of LIFE magazine—group portrait of Project Mercury astronauts (R-L): Top: Walter Schirra; Alan Shepard; Middle: John Glenn; Scott Carpenter; Donald Slayton; Bottom: Leroy Cooper; Virgil Grissom. Ralph Morse—LIFE Magazine  March 3, 1961 cover of LIFE magazine— group portrait of Mercury astronauts John Glenn, Gus Grissom and Alan Shepard. Ralph Morse—LIFE Magazine  Feb.2, 1962 cover of LIFE magazine— astronaut John Glenn, "Making of a Brave Man." Ralph Morse—LIFE Magazine  March 2, 1962 cover of LIFE magazine — astronaut John Glenn back from space. Dean Conger—LIFE Magazine  March 9, 1962 cover of LIFE magazine — "My Own Story of the Orbit" by John Glenn. 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