John Glenn was born on July 18, 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio and was the first American to orbit Earth. Glenn made a second historic space flight, doing so in 1998, at the age of 77, while researching the effects of space travel on physiology. He received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2012. Glenn served as an U.S. Senator from Ohio following his initial service as an astronaut, in office from 1974 until 1999. Glenn died on December 8, 2016 in Columbus, Ohio. John Glenn was made a Great Ohioan in 2003.