flaghalfmastCOLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) —  President Barack Obama has ordered that U.S. flags on all public buildings and military posts be flown at half-staff as a “mark of respect for the memory” of retired astronaut John Glenn.

Glenn was elevated to hero status in 1962 when he became the first American to orbit the earth. He died Thursday at a Columbus, Ohio, hospital at age 95.

Obama ordered that U.S. flags be flown at half-staff until sunset on the day of Glenn’s internment.

Glenn is scheduled to lie in state in the Ohio Statehouse rotunda from noon to 8 p.m. Friday. A public memorial service will be held Dec. 17 at Ohio State University’s Mershon Auditorium.

Burial is being planned for Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington.

Glenn also served as a Marine combat pilot and he represented Ohio in the U.S. senate for more than two decades.