I, too, am a native Buckeye.To my fellow Buckeye, RIP and God Speed.
Sorry to hear that. He had a long, full life and laid it all out for his country.
I was born in 1959 and all of us that age and older can well remember when the space program was huge news. Each launch was covered like the Super Bowl.
Our younger members here really can't appreciate how big the astronauts were as celebrities in the 60's and early 70's.
For anyone who wants to learn about the Original 7 Mercury astronauts, rent The Right Stuff (1983) or read Tom Wolfe's book by the same name. Great re-telling of the X-1 program to break the sound barrier and the early years of the space program. Movie had several actors that became quite well known in the 80's like Sam Shepard, Ed Harris, Dennis Quaid, Scott Glenn, Barbara Hershey, Jeff Goldblum, and Chuck Yeager.
Sad day. As a Buckeye boy growing up in the 50's and 60's, NASA was right up there with the USMC in hero heaven. The Lewis Research Center, now NASA's Glen Research Center, was right around the corner from home. In addition to being a real American hero, he was my Senator for 13 years. We'll 'not look upon his like again'.
You're from Brook Park? I lived there from 1981 until 1986. I went to Midpark High (which has been rolled into Berea HS- gag me now )