Glenn Weathered Space Trip Well, NASA Scientists Report

John Glenn’s 77-year-old body handled the rigors of space every bit as well as astronauts roughly half his age, NASA scientists said Friday in disclosing some of the lessons they learned from Glenn’s historic mission.

Glenn, who became the world’s oldest astronaut when he returned to space in 1998, suffered no more loss of bone mass or muscle than younger astronauts.

His heart rate before, during and after the flight actually was slightly better than the average of 12 younger male astronauts, scientists said.

“He did pretty good for a 40-year-old guy,” Dr. John Charles joked.

Scientists said the results from Glenn’s tests convinced them to start taking better care of themselves.

“The take-home message is good nutrition and exercise,” said Dr. Alfred Rossum, who participated in cardiovascular tests on Glenn. “Here we had in John Glenn someone who has done nothing but take care of himself for a lifetime and we get these surprising results.”

While the data from the nine-day mission aboard the shuttle Discovery are still being analyzed, scientists said Glenn showed there is no reason healthy older people can’t fly in space.

Glenn walks several miles a day, does some light weight training and eats a balanced diet.

About the only area in which Glenn deviated from younger astronauts was his caloric intake in space: He ate significantly more.

Scientists are not sure why that occurred but say it’s possible that Glenn--a former Marine--simply obeyed orders to eat as much as possible to avoid nausea.

Glenn, one of the original seven Mercury astronauts, was the first American to orbit the Earth, accomplishing the feat in 1962.

He was an Ohio senator for 24 years, retiring in 1998.