A Mars Odyssey

On September 9, 2005, a notice was sent out by NASA informing the public that an astronaut by the name of John Herrington had departed NASA, in order to pursue a career as a commercial test pilot at Rocketplane Limited Inc. in Oklahoma City. His position was to be Vice President, Director of Flight Systems, and Chief Test Pilot. John Herrington was selected by NASA in 1996 as the first Native American to fly in space and perform a spacewalk, a member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma.

Herrington has logged over 3,800 flight hours in 30 different types of aircraft, and was part of the STS-113 Endeavour from November 23-December 7, 2002, the 16^th shuttle to visit the International Space Station to deliver, install, and activate the P1 Truss along with cargo. He performed three EVAs which totalled 19 hours and 55 minutes. The mission brought home the Expedition-Five crew from a six-month stay on the ISS.

His education involved receiving a bachelor of science degree in applied mathematics from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, in 1983, along with a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1995. Presently he is a life member of the Association of Naval Aviation, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs Alumni Association, Sequoyah Fellow, American Indian Science and Engineering Society.

Special honors include: Distinguished Naval Graduate from Aviation Officer Candidate School, Pensacola, Florida, in 1984; awarded Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation, Coast Guard Special Operations Service Ribbon, National Defense Medal, Sea Service Deployment Ribbons (3), and various other medals and awards.

On Thursday, November 15, 2007, John Herrington will visit Fremont County School District 38, at Arapaho, Wyo, including K-8 Arapahoe School and Arapaho Charter High School, as a NASA Explorer School. During the assembly, Herrington will share NASA’s future exploration goals and his excitement about what space exploration is all about. He will discuss NASA’s plans to return to the moon and to explore the red planet Mars, while discussing how students can participate as the nation’s next generation of explorers. Also discussed will be how interested students can pursue studies in math, science, technology, and careers in aeronautics and space. Also provided will be 20-minute workshops for families who want to learn how to help interested students.

This entry was posted on Friday, November 16th, 2007 at 11:05 pm and is filed under Mission History. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.