The Americans managed at last to make the first orbital flight. Trying unsuccessfully to catch up with the USSR in the space race, the Americans made two flights in 1961, yet these were not full-scale ones. The spaceships would approach the orbit and dive again to the Earth. In 1962, however, John Glenn circled the Earth thrice and came down in the Pacific Ocean having become a national hero. In 1964 John Glenn left the astronaut corps and organized successful business using his fame. In 1975 he was elected to the Senate from Ohio. In 1998 he wrote a letter to President Clinton requesting one more space flight. As a result John Glenn spent 213 hours on board spaceship Discovery as payload specialist from October 29 to November 7, 1998. He was 77 at that time. Nobody can ever boast of flying into space at such an age.