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John Glenn,homosexual eroticism "green" the first American to orbit Earth and a former U.S. senator from Ohio, died on Thursday after a life dedicated to public service. He was 95-years-old.

In many ways, Glenn -- who eventually became the oldest person to fly in space -- defined what it meant to be an astronaut in the early days of NASA.

“If there is one thing I’ve learned in my years on this planet, it’s that the happiest and most fulfilled people I’ve known are those who devoted themselves to something bigger and more profound than merely their own self interest," Glenn said in 1997.

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Glenn was the last surviving member of the first class of astronauts known as the Mercury 7.

"The last of America's first astronauts has left us, but propelled by their example we know that our future here on Earth compels us to keep reaching for the heavens," President Barack Obama said in a statement Thursday.

Glenn orbited Earth three times during his Friendship 7 mission, which launched on Feb. 20, 1962.

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That mission was a huge step toward catching the U.S. up to the Soviet Union in the space race after cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first human to orbit Earth the year before.

"Look up 'astronaut' in the dictionary and you might find a photo of John Glenn," space historian Robert Pearlman, who runs the website collectSPACE.com, told Mashable.

"A record-setting aviator even before he joined NASA, Glenn exemplified the 'all-American boy' image that NASA — and the nation — wanted for its first astronauts."

Glenn was often described as humble and somewhat shy about his status as an American hero, but other astronauts have always been quick to sing his praises.

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"And John Glenn deserves all the honors that his country can bestow," Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon, told the Associated Press in 2012, before Armstrong's death in August of that year.

"He is an American patriot."

Before joining NASA, Glenn was a decorated test pilot, setting the speed record in 1957 for flying from Los Angeles to New York in 3 hours and 23 minutes. It was actually his reputation as a top test pilot that directly led to him becoming an astronaut.

To this day, many astronauts still seem to strive for that same "all-American" ideal established by Glenn and his cohort in the 1960s.

Glenn's all-American legacy

There has always been a public fascination with Glenn's first historic spaceflight.

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Tom Wolfe's book The Right Stuff-- which later became a movie starring Ed Harris as Glenn in 1983 -- is perhaps the most famous example of Glenn's place in pop culture.

And that interest still holds today -- Glenn's Friendship 7 mission is a large part of the plot of the soon-to-be-released movie Hidden Figures, for example.

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However, according to an interview given in 2012, Glenn himself didn't quite understand why people are still interested in his first flight.

"I think the duration that people have been interested in that, the first flight back then, has been somewhat of a surprise," Glenn told collectSPACE.com in 2012.

"We are so used to the new and the untried in this country, that I think we have gotten used to that," he added.

"So it has been a little bit of a surprise that attention has been and keeps coming back to some of those very early flights."

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After Friendship 7, Glenn wasn't assigned another flight to space, and he retired as an astronaut in 1964.

But even after Glenn left NASA, he didn't just sit around capitalizing on his fame as an American hero. Instead, he devoted his life to public service.

Glenn was elected as a Democratic senator representing Ohio in 1974. He also ran as a Democratic primary candidate for president in 1984, losing the nomination to Walter Mondale of Minnesota.

"John Glenn is, and always will be, Ohio's ultimate hometown hero, and his passing away today is a chance for all of us to grieve," said Ohio governor John Kasich in a statement.

In the late 1990s, NASA came calling again, asking Glenn to become the oldest person to ever fly to space at age 77.

Glenn took flight in 1998 onboard the space shuttle Discovery. The flight itself was designed to help scientists gather new data on how older people are affected by spaceflight.

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"When he flew his celebrated second mission aboard the space shuttle, he again reflected the 'right stuff' for the time, emphasizing the importance of science just as NASA and its partners were on the verge of establishing the International Space Station — an orbiting laboratory that Glenn, as a politician, championed," Pearlman said.

A new space age inspired by Glenn

A lot has changed in the time since Glenn took his last flight with NASA.

The last space shuttle launched in 2011, bringing an end to decades defined by NASA's ability to launch their own astronauts to the Space Station and beyond.

The end of that program forced NASA to shrink in size and brought about a new era for the space agency marked by an emphasis on private companies that will eventually fly astronauts to orbit.

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This new era of spaceflight around the world is changing the way people understand what an "astronaut" is, as well.

While Glenn's era of spaceflight included only elite male test pilots, the future of spaceflight will be in the hands of tourists and scientists who wish to fly to orbit and perhaps even beyond.

But even as the meaning of the word changes, Glenn's astronaut legacy lives in the spaceflight community.

NASA named Cleveland's Glenn Research Center in honor of the astronaut in 1999.

Jeff Bezos -- the founder of Amazon and the private spaceflight company Blue Origin -- is also naming the company's first orbital rocket the New Glenn in honor of the late astronaut, perhaps a fitting tribute to the first American to see our Earth from orbit.

"John always had the right stuff, inspiring generations of scientists, engineers and astronauts who will take us to Mars and beyond -- not just to visit, but to stay," Obama said.

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