Former U.S. senator and astronaut John Glenn, the first American to orbit the Earth, died on Thursday at age 95, according to Ohio State University.

“John Herschel Glenn Jr. had two major career paths that often intersected: flying and politics, and he soared in both of them,” the Associated Press wrote in its obituary for the four-term senator who, in 1998, became the oldest person sent into space.

Of the Ohio native, the Columbus Dispatch reported:

Cincinnati.com wrote: