i am jack daly. of the smithsonian air and space museum, it is my pleasure to welcome you to a very special john glenn lecture in space history. we established this lecture series in 2004 to spotlight legendary figures in aviation. and over the last 13 years, we have welcomed extraordinary individuals. but none of them has loomed larger in the history books then our program's namesake, john glenn. for many years, john glenn hosted these events. the last few years when they were unable to come in person, they were with us in spirit. senator glenn passed away in december after a lifetime of service to his country. he was a marine aviator and a veteran of two wars. the first american to orbit the year, a united states senator and a great friend. it is now up to us to carry on in his honor and celebrate his legacy of friendship and discovery. that is why we are here tonight. today would have been his 96 birthday. we had him for nearly a century and that still was not enough. fewughout history, americans