Legendary astronaut John Glenn was honored Friday during a ceremony at Kennedy Space Center.

The ceremony, which honored Glenn's life and legacy, was held at a fitting place to pay respects to an American icon. Glenn's Mercury-Atlas 6 rocket stands tall in the rocket garden.

"We were talking about it yesterday, that John Glenn has passed," said Alexis Johnston, who attended the ceremony.

The Johnson family came down from Jacksonville to see space history and its future at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex, but her children also got a lesson on Glenn, the legendary astronaut, who died Thursday.

Glenn was 95 years old.

"Now we are here, they are seeing his picture and what he did," she said.

Glenn made American history twice. He soared to space in 1962, becoming the first American to orbit the Earth. In 1998, He then became the oldest person to fly in space at 77 years old on shuttle Discovery.

Glenn's legacy is cemented at the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame. From the Mercury Friendship 7 control room to the gear he wore as a pilot.

"There wasn't a man on this Earth that I didn't admire much more than John Glenn," John McBride, a former shuttle astronaut, said during Friday's ceremony.

McBride and Bob Cabana, director of Kennedy Space Center, both met Glenn several times. Cabana admired Glenn because they were both test pilots in the U.S. Marine Corps.

McBride worked with Glenn on the NASA budget in Washington, D.C. Glenn spent 24 years as a senator from Ohio.

"And many hours just discussing space," McBride said.

"It's a great way to honor a true American hero," Cabana said of the ceremony and the newly completed Heroes and Legends attraction.

That sentiment was felt at Kennedy Space Center on Friday.

"Just learning about what he did before us," Johnston said.

The American flag is being flown at half-staff today, and a light continues to shine on Glenn's likeness at the Astronaut Hall of Fame.