JOHN GLENN SET FOR RETURN SPACE TRIP

Thirty-six years after he made history as the first American to orbit Earth, U.S. Sen. John Glenn has been given the go-ahead -- providing he can complete a vigorous training program -- to revisit space.

NASA announced that the 76-year-old Ohio senator, who in 1962 circled the globe three times aboard the Mercury spacecraft Friendship 7 in a flight that lasted only four hours and 56 minutes, will be aboard shuttle Discovery in October if he can complete the training program and be able to perform certain physical skills required of astronauts in case of an emergency. Glenn said he is anxious to go and will do whatever is necessary to meet NASA's standards.

No one of Glenn's age has ever been sent into space, and Glenn's trip would give scientists the opportunity to determine the effects of space travel on older people. Glenn, a former Marine pilot who has been asking to go back into space almost from the date he returned, convinced NASA that he is the best test subject because he has already been in space.

If he goes, the flight aboard Discovery will be quite different than the cramped quarters of the Friendship 7 capsule he occupied on Feb. 20, 1962. That was the early days of space flight, and it was much more dangerous than today, when putting man into space is commonplace. Space flight has been made a lot more comfortable today, and spacecraft are much roomier than in the pioneering days.

Space flight is in John Glenn's blood, and now he will have the opportunity to re-enter that beautiful domain one more time.