John Glenn, first American to orbit the Earth, dies at 95

John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth and a longtime US senator, died Thursday, according to the Ohio State University. He was 95.

It was announced Wednesday that Glenn had been hospitalized “more than a week ago,” according to Ohio State University spokesman Hank Wilson. He was at the James Cancer Hospital at the Ohio State University, but his illness was not disclosed.

Glenn had heart valve replacement surgery in 2014.

President Barack Obama released a statement paying tribute to Glenn.

“With John’s passing, our nation has lost an icon and Michelle and I have lost a friend,” Obama said. “John spent his life breaking barriers, from defending our freedom as a decorated Marine Corps fighter pilot in World War II and Korea, to setting a transcontinental speed record, to becoming, at age 77, the oldest human to touch the stars. John always had the right stuff, inspiring generations of scientists, engineers and astronauts who will take us to Mars and beyond – not just to visit, but to stay. …

“The last of America’s first astronauts has left us, but propelled by their example we know that our future here on Earth compels us to keep reaching for the heavens.”

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden called Glenn a mentor, role model and dear friend.

“Glenn’s extraordinary courage, intellect, patriotism and humanity were the hallmarks of a life of greatness,” Bolden said. “His missions have helped make possible everything our space program has since achieved and the human missions to an asteroid and Mars that we are striving toward now.”

Former Apollo astronaut Buzz Aldrin said he was saddened by the loss of a “space pioneer and world icon.”

“I am very sorry that he has departed us with his wisdom. I join that crowd of people and the entire nation and the world in paying homage to his service,” said Aldrin from a hospital bed where he has been since he was evacuated recently from the South Pole.

Social media was flooded with remembrances and reactions immediately after news of Glenn’s death.

A fascination with flight

John Herschel Glenn Jr. made history in 1962 when he completed a three-orbit flight in a cramped space capsule dubbed Friendship 7. He later served for nearly a quarter century as a US senator. In 1998, he returned to space at age 77, becoming the oldest person to ever do so.

Born in the small eastern Ohio town of Cambridge on July 18, 1921, Glenn recounted an idyllic childhood where “patriotism filled the air.”

John Glenn, the former astronaut and US senator from Ohio, died Thursday, December 8, according to Ohio State University. He was 95. Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962.

Glenn, here in a family photo at 4 months old, was born July 18, 1921, in Cambridge, Ohio.

During World War II, Glenn enlisted in the Naval Aviation Cadet Program in 1942 and became a pilot for the US Marines a year later. Glenn, pictured here in the cockpit of an F-8 fighter, completed nearly 150 combat missions in World War II and the Korean War.

In 1957, Glenn, then a Marine major, set the transcontinental air speed record, flying a Vought F-8 Crusader from Los Angeles to New York in three hours and 23 minutes. He became known as one of the top test pilots in the United States and a natural candidate for the emerging space program.

Glenn's family -- wife Annie, daughter, Carolyn "Lyn" and son David -- greet him at Floyd Bennett Field in New York after his record-breaking transcontinental flight.

Glenn and his wife, Annie, sandwich their daughter, Carolyn "Lyn," as they embrace following a ceremony honoring his feat. Son David is at left.

Glenn receives a Distinguished Flying Cross from then-Navy Secretary Thomas Gates at the Pentagon.

In 1959, NASA selected seven men -- from left, Wally Schirra, Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, Deke Slayton, Glenn, Scott Carpenter and Gordon Cooper -- as the first US astronauts, known as the Mercury 7.

Glenn, now a Project Mercury astronaut, is seen through fisheye lens during training in a mock-up of a space capsule.

Glenn, third from left, and the six other Mercury 7 astronauts participate in US Air Force survival training exercises in 1960 in Nevada. The training was intended to prepare the astronauts in case of an emergency or faulty landing in a remote area.

The astronauts instantly became national heroes and media sensations. Decades later they were immortalized in the Tom Wolfe best-seller "The Right Stuff" and subsequent film.

Glenn prepares for the Mercury-Atlas 6 flight. He would becomes the third American in space.

Glenn inspects artwork to be painted on the outside of his Mercury spacecraft, which he nicknamed Friendship 7. On February 20, 1962, Glenn became the first American to orbit the Earth. After orbiting the Earth three times in four hours and 55 minutes, the Friendship 7 landed in the Atlantic Ocean.

Following his Mercury flight, Glenn and his wife, Annie, join Vice President Lyndon Johnson in the front car of a New York motorcade parade honoring the astronaut. An estimated 4 million people turned out for the March 1, 1962, ticker-tape parade.

The famed astronaut addresses a joint session of Congress on February 28, 1962.

Glenn holds his discharge papers after he retired from the Marine Corps and resigned from NASA's astronaut program. Now a national figure, he went on to become an executive for the Royal Crown Cola Co. He would soon explore a career in politics.