1. John Bennett Herrington is a retired United States Naval Aviator, engineer and former NASA astronaut.
19 Facts About John Herrington
1. 2.
In 2002, Herrington became the first enrolled citizen of a Native American tribe to fly in space.
3.
John Herrington was born in Wetumka, Oklahoma, into the Chickasaw Nation.
4.
John Herrington grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Riverton, Wyoming, and Plano, Texas, where he graduated from Plano Senior High School.
5.
John Herrington earned a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics from the University of Colorado Colorado Springs before receiving his commission in the United States Navy in 1984.
6.
John Herrington received his commission in the US Navy from the Aviation Officer Candidate School at Naval Air Station Pensacola, Florida in March 1984.
7.
John Herrington conducted additional flight test assignments flying numerous variants of the P-3 Orion as well as the T-34C and the de Havilland Canada Dash 7.
8.
John Herrington was assigned as a special projects officer to the Bureau of Naval Personnel Sea Duty Component when selected for the astronaut program.
9.
John Herrington completed two years of training and evaluation, and qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist.
10.
John Herrington was assigned to the Flight Support Branch of the Astronaut Office where he served as a member of the Astronaut Support Personnel team responsible for Shuttle launch preparations and post-landing operations.
11.
John Herrington was selected as a mission specialist for STS-113, the sixteenth Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station.
12.
In July 2004, John Herrington served as the commander of the NEEMO 6 mission aboard the Aquarius underwater laboratory, living and working underwater for ten days.
13.
John Herrington retired from the Navy and NASA in July 2005.
14.
John Herrington was to serve as the pilot of the XP Spaceplane.
15.
John Herrington provides part-time support for the Center for Space Studies at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs.
16.
In December 2007, John Herrington resigned from Rocketplane, and stated that he plans to continue doing public speaking engagements as well as work with the Chickasaw Nation.
17.
In 2008, John Herrington embarked on a cross-country bicycle ride through the United States from Cape Flattery, Washington, to Cape Canaveral, Florida.
18.
John Herrington was inducted into the Chickasaw Hall of Fame in 2002.
19.
In 2016 John Herrington authored a children's book called Mission to Space published by White Dog Press, a secondary imprint of Chickasaw Press.