LIFE slideshow: John Glenn, unpublished photos (The Newsroom)

No person alive has been more closely associated, for so long, with America's triumphs in space during the late '50s and early '60s than Ohio native John Glenn. Here, on the occasion of his 90th birthday (July 18), LIFE.com presents unpublished photos of the first American to orbit the earth; the decorated Marine Corps veteran (WWII and Korea); and the earnest, novice politician, taken by LIFE photographers during one of the most thrilling, inspiring, nerve-wracking eras in the nation's history: the Space Race.

Hank Walker/TIME & LIFE Pictures

LIFE slideshow: Druids, mystery, faith, myth (The Newsroom)

In early October, 2010, the ancient pagan tradition of Druidry was, for the first time, formally classed as a religion in Britain. The legal significance of this new status for those who today call themselves Druids is considerable: they can, for instance, receive exemptions from taxes on donations. The spiritual significance, meanwhile -- of having one's religion recognized on a par with, say, the Church of England after years of living on the very margins of Europe's great faiths -- can hardly be overstated.

Keystone/Getty Images

LIFE slideshow: NASA envisions alien worlds (The Newsroom)

For decades, NASA has delighted stargazers with pictures taken by astronauts, telescopes, and rovers across the galaxy -- photographic glimpses of real planets, moons, stars, and other heavenly bodies. When illustrators, meanwhile, stretch their imaginations -- giving shape and color to what, say, a sunrise on another world -- their work offers brilliant notions of what vistas beyond our tiny corner of space might look like. Captured by a camera or, as in this gallery, envisioned by artists, the far reaches of space continue to humble and amaze.

NASA/ JPL-Caltech