COLUMBUS (WCMH/AP) — Former Ohio Senator and astronaut John Glenn celebrates his 95^th birthday today.

NASA posted to its Facebook page well wishes for the first  American to ever orbit Earth.

Recently, Glen was honored by having Port Columbus International Airport renamed John Glenn Columbus International Airport.

“It is a great honor to me to have this field with my name on it. It’s not just that, though,” he said. “One of the things that I think is most important about something like this, other than just honoring me, is the fact that it may draw attention for some of our young people and develop their interest in knowing that they, in their time, can do as many new things as have been done in aviation and in flying in the past.”

Glenn, raised in New Concord, Ohio, was the first American to orbit the earth. He was part of NASA’s historic Mercury Seven crew and became its last surviving member with the death of Scott Carpenter in 2013. Glenn returned to space in 1998, at age 77.

Earlier in his life, Glenn flew a combined 122 missions during World War II and the Korean War and set the transcontinental speed record. He was elected to the U.S. Senate in 1974, serving until 1999.What others are clicking on: