10. Glenn Excelled Under Pressure to Become a Deadly Fighter Pilot, Test Pilot, and Earn a Spot in NASA’s First Batch of Astronauts
After graduating college, John Glenn was commissioned in the United States Marine Corps in 1943. He trained as a fighter pilot, went to war, and gained a reputation for skill and fearlessness. He flew the obsolescent Grumman F4F Wildcat at first, and then the Vought F4U Corsair. In the Korean War, Glenn flew close ground support missions. He was nicknamed “Old Magnet Ass” because of the amount of antiaircraft fire he frequently took while flying low to attack enemy positions. On at least two occasions, he returned in a plane riddled with more than 250 holes.
Glenn then trained to fly the new North American F-86 Saber jet fighter. In the conflict’s waning days, he shot down three MiGs – the Korean War’s final air victories. He then spent most of the 1950s as a test pilot. He excelled in his new pressure cooker of a career, and set speed records as he risked his life and cheated death on multiple occasions. Glenn next tried out for the space program, and joined the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in 1959. He passed the rigorous testing, and became one of the original Mercury 7 astronauts.
