WASHINGTON – This wasn’t the first time Speaker of the House John Boehner presented Congressional Gold Medals, but even he recognized giving them to four astronauts was out of this world.
“I’m going to go ahead and say what I think everyone is thinking, ‘This is pretty cool,’” Boehner said at the Capitol Rotunda on Wednesday.
Accepting those medals were John Glenn, the first American to orbit Earth, along with Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, the first three men to land on the moon.
Glenn, who was very familiar with the building as a former senator from Ohio, was grateful to have been a part of such a major moment in U.S. history.
“We must consider ourselves one of the most fortunate generations where the dream became the reality,” Glenn said.