John Glenn, born in 1921 in Cambridge, Ohio, served as a pilot in the US Marine Corps and as a test pilot before becoming one of the Mercury-7, NASA's first cohort of astronauts. On February 20, 1962, he was launched into space atop a Mercury Atlas rocket and completed 3 and a half orbits. Later, as a US Senator, he promoted STEM education, and before his death in December 2016 he gave his name to this project in the hope of inspiring young people to become passionate about space and science. Across most of history, people have drawn inspiration from star-filled night skies, mapping stories and mythologies onto the stars and linking calendars, festivals, and agriculture to the movement of the heavens. In recent times, views of the night sky have inspired many young people to pursue science, but modern artificial light has dimmed that view for most people. Hocking Hills remains one of the few places in Ohio where the night sky can still be seen in a near pristine state, continuing traditions that once led generations to mark seasonal changes through the sun's motion and to build structures such as Stonehenge in England, the Chaco Canyon Kiva in New Mexico, and the Hopewell and Fort Ancient Earthworks in Ohio.