John Glenn, 75, wants to be oldest person to orbit Earth

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Sen. John Glenn, the first U.S. astronaut to orbit the Earth, wants to become the oldest American to orbit the Earth -- and a NASA spokesman says it could happen.

Glenn, who turns 76 next month, has volunteered for a space shuttle mission if NASA decides to study how weightlessness affects an older person, Glenn's press secretary Brian McCleary told CNN.

While there is no mission planned, a NASA official told the Orlando Sentinel that the space agency is interested in researching how space alters the aging process.

Glenn circled the Earth three times in February 1962 aboard Mercury Six. After leaving the space program, he entered private business and was later elected to the U.S. Senate from Ohio, a job he's held for the last 22 years.

In 1984, he made an unsuccessful bid for the Democratic Party's presidential nomination, and announced earlier this year that he will not seek another Senate term.

Related sites:

• The NASA Homepage

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