I met Glenn twice.
The first time was when I was a kid. My dad took me to Washington DC and we were walking around the Senate office building (back when you could get in). Glenn was locking up his office for the day, but when he saw how I was excited to meet him (I was the kind of kid who was excited to meet senators) he let us into his office and autographed a photo for me.
The second time was many years later, when I was a fellow at the John Glenn Institute, and he turned up for one of our receptions. I asked him about flying with Ted Williams (who he said was an amazing man), and we talked about George Bush's plan to put a man on Mars. Glenn wasn't a fan. It called for landing on the moon and then going on to Mars, which, he said, was a terrible waste of fuel. You have to use fuel to leave Earth, and then use more fuel (which you'd need to carry with you) to escape the Moon's gravity. He suggested heading towards the sun, and using it's gravity as a slingshot to shoot you towards Mars. I recall being awed that I was discussing space exploration with an actual astronaut. He had a reputation for being wooden when giving public speeches, but in person it was nothing of the sort. Even as an old man he had so much charisma it was like standing in front of a floodlight. I didn't mention that we'd met before, and I didn't ask him for an autograph the second time.
I also met his wife Annie, whom he had known since they were infants. (No joke, their parents were friends.) Hopefully they have a big and close family for her to be with.
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