The National Portrait Gallery is exhibiting a watercolor portrait of John Glenn, showing the astronaut-statesman in a quiet moment before the history-making launch of the Discovery mission.
FILE – In this Feb. 20, 2012, file photo, U.S. Sen. John Glenn talks with astronauts on the International Space Station via satellite before a discussion titled “Learning from the Past to Innovate for the Future” in Columbus, Ohio. Glenn, who was the first U.S. astronaut to orbit Earth and later spent 24 years representing Ohio in the Senate, has died at 95.
(AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File)
AP Photo/Jay LaPrete, File
A Sept. 1966 edition of LIFE Magazine bearing the likeness of John Glenn rests in a showcase at the John & Annie Glenn Museum, Friday, Dec. 9, 2016, in New Concord, Ohio. Glenn was the first American to orbit Earth, piloting Friendship 7 around the planet three times in 1962. Glenn, as a U.S. senator at age 77, also became the oldest person in space by orbiting Earth with six astronauts aboard shuttle Discovery in 1998.
(AP Photo/John Minchillo)
AP Photo/John Minchillo
In this Feb. 20, 1962 photo made available by NASA, astronaut John Glenn pilots the “Friendship 7” Mercury spacecraft during his historic flight as the first American to orbit the Earth. Glenn, who later spent 24 years representing Ohio in the Senate, has died at 95.
(NASA via AP)
WASHINGTON — Astronaut-statesman John Glenn who died Thursday at age 95 will lie in state in Ohio for a public viewing to celebrate the life of the first man to orbit the Earth in 1962 turned long-serving U.S. senator.
Closer to the D.C. area, a portrait capturing a reflective moment as Glenn prepared for the 1998 history-making Discovery mission, is once again on public view.
The Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery has installed the portrait of Glenn by artist Henry C. Caselli Jr. in its “in memoriam” space.
The water and graphite portrait depicts Glenn, then 77, his head bowed in contemplation ahead of the nine-day mission during which he would become the oldest astronaut to reach space.
Glenn was then still a sitting U.S. senator.
Caselli, the artist, was commissioned to create the paintings “to record for posterity the flight preparations,” according to his website.
Casselli was previously invited to serve as one of NASA’s “official artists” in the early 1980s to document preparations for the first space shuttle program.
Jack Moore joined WTOP.com as a digital writer/editor in July 2016. Previous to his current role, he covered federal government management and technology as the news editor at Nextgov.com, part of Government Executive Media Group.
