Astronaut and US Senator John Glenn passed away on Thursday at an Ohio hospital, according to Ohio State University.
He was hospitalized at the James Cancer Hospital at Ohio State earlier this week for an unexplained condition, a source close to his family told NBC.
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Ohio Governor John R. Kasich said of Glenn: “John Glenn is, and always will be, Ohio’s ultimate hometown hero, and his passing today is an occasion for all of us to grieve.”
Governor Kasich continued by saying, “As we bow our heads and share our grief with his beloved wife, Annie, we must also turn to the skies, to salute his remarkable journeys and his long years of service to our state and nation.”
Two years ago, Glenn fill ill after suffering a stroke following a heart valve replacement surgery.
Glenn is a 95-year-old Marine and former war hero. He was the first American to orbit the Earth, and went on to serve for four terms in the U.S. senate after his days with NASA.
He was a Democratic senator for 25 years and was a highly decorated combat pilot in World War II and the Korean War. However, he will be most remembered for his 1962 space voyage called the Friendship 7 that circled the Earth. The achievement put the United States back on level playing field with the Russians in the space race.
Glenn was greeted with a hero’s welcome after the voyage. As he headed up the Canyon of Heroes, he was showered with a record 3,474 tons of confetti, according to New York Daily News.
After the mission, Glenn instantly became one of the most famous people in America, and went on to become a poster boy for NASA.
“If other people look at me as someone they admire because of what I’ve been fortunate enough to take part in, I don’t recoil from that, nor to I try to advance it,” Glenn said while talking with Life magazine back in October 1998.
At age 77, Glenn went back into space on the shuttle Discovery and in doing so became the oldest person to make such a voyage.
Glenn was given America’s highest civilian honor with the Congressional Gold Medal back in 2011.
John Glenn and his wife Annie had two children Dave and Lyncq. He also has two grandchildren.
Our thoughts and prayers go out to John Glenn’s family in this difficult time.
[H/T CNBC, NBC, New York Daily News]
