John Glenn, the USA's first man in orbit, returned to space aboard the SpaceShuttle Discovery STS95 mission on 29 October. At 77, the former Mercury astronaut and pilot of the Friendship 7 mission on 20 February, 1962, became the oldest person in space. The Discovery may have to land after its nine-day mission without the aid of its drag chute due to a panel, suspected to be from the drag chute housing, coming off shortly before lift-off from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida.
Source: Flight International
