COLUMBUS (AP) — Organizers of a sculpture effort to honor the late John Glenn are banking on Ohio’s love of the famous astronaut to try to attract some state funding.

A New York graduate student championing creation of the statue says he’s preparing a request for about $20,000 in state funding toward estimated project costs of between $175,000 and $200,000. Capital budget requests are due Jan. 3.

The sculpture would be placed outside the John Glenn Post Office in Glenn’s birthplace of Cambridge, roughly 80 miles east of Columbus.

The first American to orbit Earth died a year ago Friday at age 95. His death drew thousands of mourners to the Ohio Statehouse, where he lay in repose for a longer period than assassinated President Abraham Lincoln and others in history.