Snyder Directs Flags To Half-Staff Until John Glenn Burial

LANSING (AP) — Gov. Rick Snyder is asking Michigan residents, businesses, schools, local governments and other organizations to lower flags to half-staff to honor the memory of former astronaut and statesman John Glenn.

Snyder said Friday that in accordance with President Barack Obama's call, flags should remain lowered until sunset on the day of Glenn's burial.

Glenn died Thursday at age 95. He was the first American to orbit the Earth in 1962 and the oldest man in space at age 77 in 1998. A U.S. Marine and combat pilot, he also served as a U.S. senator from Ohio for more than two decades.

Glenn is to be buried at Arlington National Cemetery near Washington, D.C.

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