Carrying John Glenn's legacy into the future

Editor's note: NASA Glenn Research Center director Janet Kavandi, who oversees operations at the Erie County-based Plum Brook Station, talked about the pioneering spirit of John Glenn. She also stressed how ongoing and future space missions being tested at Glenn properties strive to fulfill Glenn's beliefs of exploration.CLEVELAND — On Monday, Feb. 20, the nation will celebrate a milestone that changed the course of American history and our relationship with the universe around us.On that date, 55 years ago, John Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth, piloting the tiny space capsule Friendship 7.His historic three orbits of our planet in 1962, a flight that lasted just under five hours, opened the door for future human deep space exploration missions and launched NASA on a trajectory that has since taken astronauts to the moon and, for the past 16 years, a continuous presence living and working on the International Space Station.Today, with government agencies and commercial space companies delivering satellites to Earth's orbit, and regularly ferrying supplies and astronauts to the International Space Station, it may be hard to appreciate the significance of Glenn's accomplishment five and a half decades ago.Until his historic flight, the U.S. was losing the space race with the Soviet Union. At that time, the Soviet Union was the only other government in the world to have a space program — and the only government to have put a man into orbit.With the success of Friendship 7, Glenn leveled the playing field at a time when the U.S. and its citizens needed it most.Unfortunately, Glenn's passing on Dec. 8, 2016, at the age of 95, robbed us of the opportunity to celebrate Monday's anniversary with him. Nevertheless, across this country and among our international space partners, people will pause – and should pause — to remember the astronaut who helped make possible all that has been achieved in the U.S. space program since that historic Friendship 7 flight.In this Jan. 25, 2012, file photo, John Glenn poses for a photo during an interview at his office in Columbus, Ohio. The 95-year-old Glenn died in December. Monday marks the 55th anniversary in which Glenn became the first American to orbit Earth. (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)At NASA's John H. Glenn Research Center, the nearly 3,300 people working at the center's two campuses in Cleveland and Sandusky (named the NASA Plum Brook Station) will be among those honoring Glenn's historic accomplishment.Working at the NASA center named for the pioneering astronaut, we understand the enormous responsibility with which we are entrusted. We're carrying on his legacy of exploration and discovery each and every day, embracing his lifelong passion for pursuing scientific knowledge while advancing the nation's technology in aeronautics and spaceflight programs.Glenn always pushed the envelope to discover what can be, and the engineers, researchers, and scientists at NASA Glenn are no different.We're developing technologies that will allow passenger aircraft to fly safer, faster, cleaner and more efficiently in the decades to come. For example, we're leading NASA's development of hybrid-electric technologies that will propel aircraft using electric motors.Rodger Dyson, a NASA research electrical engineer, oversees work inside the new NASA Electric Aircraft Testbed at the Plum Brook Station in Erie County. About a year ago, engineers began experimenting on new-age electrical engine mechanisms to one day power commercial airplanes, such as Boeing 737s. The mechanisms would help airplanes zip through skies in a more efficient manner. Just as Glenn did 55 years ago, NASA Glenn's staff looks to the stars, advancing technologies that will help our nation unlock the secrets of the universe.We're increasing the power and efficiency of future deep space exploration missions. NASA Glenn developed the use of solar electric propulsion in the 1960s, technology that has since propelled robotic missions, such as Dawn, to the asteroid belt's protoplanet, Ceres, in 2015.This technology is continually being improved and will support missions to Mars and other destinations throughout the solar system. The use of solar electric propulsion for cargo vehicles ferrying supplies and equipment to astronauts 140 million miles away on Mars is the most cost-effective and efficient way to sustain a future human presence on the "Red Planet."Additionally, NASA Glenn is supporting the agency's Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion spacecraft, which will carry astronauts beyond low Earth orbit for the first time since Gene Cernan last walked on the moon in 1972. SLS could even carry the first astronauts to Mars.Orion, which is being tested at the NASA Plum Brook Station in Erie County, is the mission name for the vehicle among to carry astronauts into deep space and possibly Mars.One critical piece of hardware we'll be responsible for, the universal stage adaptor, will mate Orion to the SLS rocket. Orion will undergo the most rigorous testing possible at our center's state-of-the-art space environment facilities at Plum Brook Station in Sandusky next year.NASA Glenn's ongoing microgravity research on the space station is helping us learn more about living and working in space. The station has been a critical habitat to discover invaluable information about how the human body reacts to long-duration space travel, crucial data for astronauts who may be chosen for the Journey to Mars in the 2030s.Exploration requires technology, and technology drives exploration. But so does curiosity. Glenn once said, "I suppose the one quality in an astronaut more powerful than any other is curiosity. They have to get some place nobody's ever been."Fifty-five years ago, a heroic Marine Corps pilot and pioneering astronaut put his curiosity to the ultimate test and set in motion humanity's most epic journey: the exploration of space.Like Glenn, the men and women at NASA Glenn — from our engineers, researchers and scientists to our support personnel — use curiosity and innovation to get to the places no one has ever been. These are essential elements of the American spirit, and it is the lasting legacy of Glenn, a legacy we proudly take with us into the future.Janet Kavandi, the NASA Glenn Research Center director who oversees Plum Brook Station activity. Marines stand guard at the casket of John Glenn as he lies in honor, Friday, Dec. 16, 2016, in Columbus, Ohio. Glenn died in December at the age of 95. (AP Photo/John Minchillo)