NASA has released the following statement by Administrator Charles Bolden about President Obama's announcement that astronaut John Glenn has been selected as a recipient of the 2012 Presidential Medal of Freedom

NASA's Glenn Research Center will host an event on March 2 to commemorate the 50th anniversary of John Glenn's orbital flight, the first by an American.

CLEVELAND, Feb.

On February 20, 1962, John Glenn became the first American astronaut to orbit the Earth aboard Friendship 7. Now, 50 years later, we look back at that moment with admiration at what roads that mission was able to pave for our nation.

WASHINGTON, Feb. 16, 2012 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- Feb. 20 marks the 50th anniversary of the day in 1962 when U.S. Sen. John Glenn piloted his Friendship 7 spacecraft on the first U.S.