Florida Senator Bill Nelson, a fellow Democrat and a fellow Shuttle astronaut, took to the Senate Floor Thursday to honor the memory of former Senator John Glenn.
The Ohio native earned national fame in 1962 when he became the first American to orbit the Earth. At age 77, Glenn flew aboard Space Shuttle Discovery and became the oldest man to go into space.
“America is in the planning and the developing of the rockets that will take us, a human species, all the way to Mars. John Glenn was the pioneer. He was, the one who paved the way.”
Nelson called Glenn an unabashed patriot and a first-class gentleman who “had the right stuff.” Nelson flew aboard Space Shuttle Columbia as a mission specialist in 1986.
