1921- . US astronaut and politician. On 20
Feb 1962, he became the first American to
orbit the Earth, three times in the Mercury
spacecraft Friendship 7, in a flight lasting
4 hr 55 min. After retiring from NASA, he was
elected to the US Senate as a Democrat from
Ohio 1974; re-elected 1980 and 1986. He
unsuccessfully sought the Democratic
presidential nomination 1984.