All These Politicians Have Been to Space

Which do you find more impressive, an astronaut or a politician? Well, these guys have done both. Take a look at the list below to learn about those who can say they’ve been to space and made policies on earth.

John Herschel Glenn Jr.

Astronaut John Glenn in a Mercury program pressure suit and helmet. (Ralph Morse/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

The LIFE Picture Collection/Gett

Flanked by saluting soldiers, American President John F. Kennedy (1917 – 1963) (right)walks with astronaut John Glenn (left) and Vice President (and later President) Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908 – 1973) (center) shortly after his arrival on Air Force One, Cape Canaveral, Florida, February 23, 1962. Kennedy honored the astronaut at a reception and presentation commemorating Glenn’s Mercury-Atlas 6 space mission (also known as Friendship 7). (Michael Rougier/The LIFE Picture Collection/Getty Images)

The LIFE Picture Collection/Gett

John Herschel Glenn Jr. was born in 1921 in Ohio. He served in the U.S. Marine Corps during World War II and became an astronaut in Feb. 1962. He was the first American to orbit the earth. Afterwards, he became a Senator of Ohio from 1975-99, was a candidate for Democratic domination for president in 1984, and was a delegate to Democratic National Convention from Ohio in 1996, 2004, and 2008.

John Leonard Swigert, Jr.

Apollo 13 astronauts receive warm welcomes from their families as they arrive in Honolulu. At right John L. Swigert embraces his mother, Mrs. J. Leonard Swigert, as Fred W. Haise and his wife (L) kiss. Behind Swigert is James A. Lovell and his wife.

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John Leonard Swigert, Jr., known as Jack Swigert, was born in Denver, Colorado in 1931. He was a Republican and was a candidate in primary for U.S. Senator from Colorado in 1978. He was elected as a representative in 1982 but died before taking office. He was an astronaut on Apollo 13 moon mission in April 1970, which was aborted when an oxygen tank ruptured (they returned safely). Swigert received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1970. He died from bone marrow cancer in 1982.

Harrison Hagan Schmitt

Harrison Hagan Schmitt, American Geologist, Astronaut, And Politician. (Encyclopedia Britannica/UIG Via Getty Images)

UIG via Getty Images

American geologist and astronaut Harrison Hagan Schmitt takes rock samples from the surface of the moon during America’s last lunar landing mission of the 20th century, Apollo 17, December 1972. (Space Frontiers/Getty Images)

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Harrison Hagan Schmitt was born in New Mexico in 1935. He was a U.S. Senator from New Mexico — as a Republican — from 1977-83. He was a crew member for Apollo 17 and landed on the moon in December 1972.

Jack R. Lousma

Skylab pilot Jack R. Lousma works outside Skylab, America’s first space station August 6, 1973 in space. Lousma and astronaut Owen K. Garriott, science pilot, deployed the twin-pole solar shield to help shade the Orbital Workshop. The spacewalks on Skylab were the first time astronauts went outside to fix a problem with their spacecraft. (NASA via Getty Images)

Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas: Skylab III astronauts, Dr. Own K. Garriott, science pilot; Jack R. Lousma, pilot and Alan L. Bean, commander. The fifty-six day mission is scheduled for launching from complex 39, Kennedy Space Center July 28, 1973.

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Jack R. Lousma was a Republican candidate for U.S. Senator from Michigan in 1984. He was a Skylab crew member before that in 1973.

Edwin Jacob Garn

Edwin Jacob Garn, who flew on space shuttle Discovery in April 1985. He was a U.S. Senator from Ohio from 1975-93.

Edwin Jacob Garn was Mayor of Salt Lake City, Utah from 1971 to 74. He was born in Salt Lake County in 1932. He continued on to be a U.S. Senator from 1975-93. He flew on the space shuttle Discovery in April 1985.

Clarence William Nelson

Crew members and backups chosen for the Space Shuttle Challenger mission float in a “Zero-G” aircraft at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. They are (from left to right) Gerard Magilton, RCA backup PS, Sharon Christa McAuliffe, PS teacher citizen observer, U.S. Rep. Bill Nelson, Barbara Morgan, backup to McAuliffe, and Robert J. Cenker, RCA PS. November 20, 1985. (Otis Imboden/Corbis/VCG via Getty Images)

Corbis/VCG via Getty Images

Clarence William Nelson was born in 1942 in Florida. As a Democrat and a lawyer, he went on to be a legislative assistant to Gov. Reubin Askew in 1971. He was a member of the Florida state house of representatives from 1973-78 and then was a Representative from Florida from 1979-91. He ran in the primary for Governor of Floria in 1990 and was a delegate to the Democratic National Convention from Florida in 1996, 2004, and 2008. He is currently a U.S. Senator from Florida since 2001. He flew on the space shuttle Columbia in January 1986.