I'm doing a masters in law http://luisamartelo.com/index.php/help-on-personal-statement/ instruction effects of world war 1 essay happy ape In 1959, NASA chose Carpenter and six other pilots to be astronauts in response to the Soviet Union's space program. The only surviving member of that Mercury 7 team is John Glenn, 92, who went on to serve as a U.S. Senator from Ohio for more than two decades. Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth, and Carpenter was his backup on that mission.