UPDATE: Astronaut, former senator John Glenn has left us

UPDATE: Astronaut, former senator John Glenn has passed away

The Friendship 7 mission, which made him the first American to orbit the earth, was almost 55 years ago - and he was already 40 at the time! But he definitely had the right stuff.

He was the last of the Mercury Seven left alive, even though he was the oldest one in the group. (Gordo was the youngest.)

He and the other six members of the team changed the aspirations of a generation. When I was a boy, nobody wanted to grow up to be an astronaut, because there was no such thing. Just ten years later, almost every boy wanted to be an astronaut.

From the comment area:

There are still 10 out of 16 Gemini astronauts alive, the youngest of them 82 (Cernan). I guess going into space prolongs your life, at least statistically.

Scoop's note:

If the selection process for Gemini was similar to that for Mercury, the men were selected for (among other things) exceptional fitness. They eventually narrowed 500+ candidates down to thirty two, and then in testing winnowed the group down to seven. Those chosen had to be in remarkable physical condition just to survive the simulations, and then they had to stay healthy and slim to remain in the program. The Mercury requirements limited them to 5'11". John Glenn was on the taller side at 5'10". Gus Grissom was 5'5". (The Russians required even smaller men - no taller than 5'9". Yuri Gagarin was 5'2".) I suppose they were likely to end up with a long-lived group considering that process used to select them.