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Columbus Airport To Be Named In Honor Of Ohio Astronaut John Glenn

John Glenn, Jr. Signed Photograph to Wallace Greene, Jr., 1962 - From the Wallace M. Greene, Jr. Collection (COLL/3093), Marine Corps Archives & Special Collections
USMC Archives

Astronaut John Glenn is getting an airport named in his honor in his home state of Ohio.

In a gesture of bipartisan cooperation, the Republican-dominated Ohio House voted Wednesday to support a bill adding the 94-year-old Democrat's name to Port Columbus International Airport. The facility's new name will be John Glenn Columbus International Airport.

A Senate vote is also expected Wednesday.

Glenn was the first American to orbit the earth and was a member of NASA's storied Mercury Seven crew that led the U.S. into space. With Scott Carpenter's death in 2013, he became the crew's last surviving member. Glenn also piloted the first supersonic transcontinental flight in 1957.

He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1974, serving until 1999. He returned to space in 1998, at age 77.

Stories from the Associated Press.