'Even though I am a girl...': John Glenn's fan mail and sexism in the early space program

By Roshanna Sylvester, Associate Professor of History, DePaul University. John Glenn stands in the NASA mailroom surrounded by thousands of letters sent to him. John Glenn Archives, The Ohio State University. News of the death of John Glenn – “the last genuine American hero” – ricocheted across the internet on Dec. 8, 2016, in less time…