STS-95: John Glenn Returns to Space

John Glenn was the only one of the Mercury Seven astronauts to fly on the space shuttleon STS-95 in October-November 1998. The flight came 36 years after his only other space mission, Mercury-Atlas 6, and was something of a victory lap for the 77-year-old Glenn, who was still a U.S. Senator at the time. The launch and the postflight briefing both drew larger-than-normal crowds of reporters and well wishers. Here Glenn describes two Florida photos taken more than 30 years apart, and pokes good-natured fun at his young crewmates (mission commander) Curt Brown, Chiaki Mukai of Japan, and Pedro Duque of Spain.