Coachella Valley residents remember space pioneer, John Glenn

American space pioneer, John Glenn, has died at the age of 95 in Ohio.

People around the Coachella Valley remembered him, and his service to his country, on Thursday.

Born in 1921 in Ohio, the legendary astronaut, knew he had a calling.

“I guess I’ve looked at my whole life as being a service to my country,” he once said.

Glenn became a Marine pilot after Japan attacked Pearl Harbor. Glenn flew nearly 150 missions.

“He had a long life passion for aviation, from the time he flew all the way up until he went into space,” Fred Bell, vice chairman of the Palm Springs Air museum, said.

In 1959 NASA chose him as one of the famous, Mercury 7. On Feb. 20, 1962, Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth.

“He is really one of the pillars, one of the founding foundations of American space flight and space exploration,” Bell said.

Desert Sands Unified School District in La Quinta was inspired by 20th century explorers and named John Glenn Middle School after the pioneer.

“Back then all of our schools were named after ex-presidents, and all of us decided we wanted to talk about exploration and adventure. This became the first seamless K-12 international baccalaureate school in the nation,” said Gary Tomak, DSUSD School Board Member.

Glenn is survived by his wife, two children and two grandchildren.