The second floor lobby of Bricker Hall was silent, all eyes focused on the screen.The Discovery STS-95 launched at 2:19 p.m. Thursday, and Sen. John Glenn became the oldest man at 77-years-old to enter space.”Boy, enjoying the show,” Glenn said as Discovery soared 340 miles over Hawaii three hours into the flight. “This is beautiful. It’s still a trite old statement: Zero-g and I feel fine,” he added, repeating the words of his first flight 36 years ago.”First report is great. I don’t know what happens on down the line, but today is beautiful and great, and Hawaii is, I just can’t even describe it,” Glenn said.Glenn, who was the first American to orbit the Earth, passed his previous flight time of four hours, 55 minutes and 23 seconds. He said to mission control, “I’m now doubled on my space time and building up every second,” the Associated Press reported.About 150 people packed the Bricker lobby, watching the event on a projector screen as Columbus television crews broadcast live.Dave Ferguson, executive assistant to the senior vice president and provost, said he was thrilled by the turn-out of the Bricker Hall launch party.”I think it is indicative of our desire to have a hero,” Ferguson said. “John Glenn is the authentic American hero. I think that we needed a hero and something to be really proud about.””I would love to go up in space,” Ferguson said. “I vicariously live through events like this.”Undergraduate Student Government President Josh Mandel said that John Glenn makes him even more proud to be an Ohioan and an American.”His leadership inspires people to be leaders in their own arenas,” Mandel said. “He’s a model representative of the university, state and the nation.”Except for an 18-by-22-inch drag-chute door that fell from the tail, the launch was labeled a success by NASA. The door, which is usually opened before landing, fell off and hit an engine.NASA said at this point they don’t think the absence of the door should affect the shuttles’ landing on Nov. 7.The audience at Bricker was not only excited about the historical events of the mission, but relieved that things went safely.”I’m not a big John Glenn fan, but the last time I saw a launch it was the shuttle Challenger,” said senior Julie Schoch. Schoch said it was nice to see the successful launch.The Associated Press contributed to this story.