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Native American to Fly on Shuttle
Associated Press ^ | Fri Nov 8, 1:48 PM ET | MARCIA DUNN

Posted on 11/09/2002 9:26:40 AM PST by anymouse

When NASA's first American Indian astronaut embarks on his long-awaited journey into space in a few days, he will fly with eagle feathers, arrowheads, a handful of sacred ground and the blessings of the Chickasaw Nation.

"I've always imagined what it would be like to be able to go out the hatch and to see the Earth in all its glory," said John Herrington. "I think it's going to fill me with an incredible sense of who I am."

His flight aboard space shuttle Endeavour is slated for liftoff early Monday.

Herrington will conduct a series of spacewalks outside the international space station with Spanish-born astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria. Not long after Columbus Day, the two crewmates — both 44-year-old U.S. Navy pilots — discussed the historic significance of their pairing.

"It would be like having a German and a Jew go out together" on a spacewalk, Lopez-Alegria said.

Bill Anoatubby, governor of the Chickasaw Nation in Ada, Okla., said it is wonderful to see two men, whose ancestors may have been enemies, on the same spaceflight. "It has come full circle," he said.

Anoatubby traveled to Cape Canaveral for Herrington's launch, along with 200 other members of the 35,000-strong Chickasaw Nation. An Indian ceremony is planned on the eve of his flight.

"It's a source of real pride for all of us," Anoatubby said.

Herrington's great-grandmother on his mother's side was Chickasaw, making the astronaut one-eighth Indian. Although he did not grow up in an Indian environment, his mother made sure he was registered as a member of the Chickasaw tribe. Herrington said there is Choctaw on his father's side, but he cannot document it.

"I take tremendous pride in who I am, where I came from," Herrington said. "I know that the people I meet who are Native American, there's a connection to me, there's an immediate recognition or belonging."

Like many children of the 1960s, Herrington was fascinated with space travel. He and his brother and a friend would lie on their backs in a big cardboard box and pretend it was an Apollo spacecraft carrying them to the moon.

By the time he got to college, Herrington wanted to be a forest ranger but flunked out. He and his family were always moving — 14 times by his count in Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming and Texas — and he lacked ambition.

A fellow rock climber persuaded Herrington to return to school and he took up math and engineering at the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs. That led to the Navy, test pilot school and, in 1996, NASA's astronaut corps.

Herrington, who is married to a non-Indian and has two daughters, is considered the first self-identified American Indian bound for space. Robert Crippen, the pilot of the first shuttle flight, had long thought he was part Cherokee but recently discovered he has no Indian blood.

Six eagle feathers are tucked away for Herrington's 11-day shuttle flight. Chickasaw Nation and Crow Nation flags also will accompany him into orbit, along with a braid of sweet grass, two arrowheads found by relatives, a rock from the sacred site of Bear Butte in South Dakota's Black Hills, wooden flutes and flute music, and a piece of pottery by a Hopi artist.

Herrington wanted to fly some tobacco leaves, too, but NASA vetoed it because of a space agency ban on tobacco aboard its spacecraft.


TOPICS: Government; News/Current Events; Technical; US: Florida; US: Oklahoma
KEYWORDS: goliath; indian; nasa; nativeamerican; pufflist; space
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Herrington wanted to fly some tobacco leaves, too, but NASA vetoed it because of a space agency ban on tobacco aboard its spacecraft.

I suppose the FReeper smoker activists might find this interesting.

Not long after Columbus Day, the two crewmates — both 44-year-old U.S. Navy pilots — discussed the historic significance of their pairing.

"It would be like having a German and a Jew go out together" on a spacewalk, Lopez-Alegria said.

Bill Anoatubby, governor of the Chickasaw Nation in Ada, Okla., said it is wonderful to see two men, whose ancestors may have been enemies, on the same spaceflight. "It has come full circle," he said.

I guess Herrington and Lopez-Alegria won't be smoking a peace pipe then. :)

Seriously, this cheesey PC claptrap that NASA's Public Affairs Office pushes should be ended. These statements are an insult to Indian (Native) Americans, Americans of Spanish decent, German decent and Jews. As if they need a NASA publicity stunt to get along.

1 posted on 11/09/2002 9:26:40 AM PST by anymouse
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To: anymouse
Say, wasn't there a big deal about his special T-P ?
2 posted on 11/09/2002 9:29:19 AM PST by Taiwan Bocks
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To: *puff_list; Oklahoma; *Space
ping.
3 posted on 11/09/2002 9:29:47 AM PST by anymouse
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To: anymouse
I'd like to see a bush man from the Kalahari nabbed up and shipped into space for a week, and then dropped off back home. His kin folk would never believe it. "Abducted by aliens! Sure."
4 posted on 11/09/2002 9:40:45 AM PST by Fester Chugabrew
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To: Taiwan Bocks
Is this what our space program has become: a vehicle for ethnic harmony and PC symbolism?
5 posted on 11/09/2002 9:50:18 AM PST by Jeff Chandler
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To: anymouse
a rock from the sacred site of Bear Butte

A bar stool?

6 posted on 11/09/2002 9:51:52 AM PST by Jeff Chandler
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To: anymouse
So, are they actually going to do anything on this very expensive mission, or is it just a touchy-feely waste of tax dollars?

A privitized space industry would just get to work, not spend its time putting out politically-correct press releases.

7 posted on 11/09/2002 9:54:50 AM PST by Hank Rearden
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To: anymouse
"I've always imagined what it would be like to be able to go out the hatch and to see the Earth in all its glory," said John Herrington. "I think it's going to fill me with an incredible sense of who I am."

Check your job description; somewhere there, it probably says you're an astronaut.

8 posted on 11/09/2002 9:56:07 AM PST by Hank Rearden
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To: anymouse
Is this the actual article title?

I'm a native American too - born here in 1951. This fancy terminology garbage is starting to get to me. Sorry for the rant... I realize you didn't write it, you just posted it.

9 posted on 11/09/2002 10:07:25 AM PST by ken in texas
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To: Hank Rearden
NAME: John Bennett Herrington (Commander, USN)
NASA Astronaut

PERSONAL DATA: Born September 14, 1958 in Wetumka, Oklahoma. He grew up in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Riverton, Wyoming, and Plano, Texas. Married to the former Debra Ann Farmer of Colorado Springs, Colorado. They have two children. He enjoys rock climbing, snow skiing, running, cycling. His parents, Mr. and Mrs. James E. Herrington, reside in Spicewood, Texas. His brother, James E. Herrington, Jr., resides in Sandy Spring, Maryland. His sister, Jennifer D. Monshaugen, resides in Spicewood, Texas.

EDUCATION: Graduated from Plano Senior High School, Plano, Texas, in 1976; received a bachelor of science degree in applied mathematics from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs, in 1983, and a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1995.

ORGANIZATIONS: 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: 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 service awards.

EXPERIENCE: Herrington received his commission from Aviation Officer Candidate School in March 1984 and was designated a Naval Aviator in March 1985. He reported to Patrol Squadron Thirty-One (VP-31) at the Moffett Field Naval Air Station, Mountain View, California for initial training in the P-3C Orion. His first operational assignment was with Patrol Squadron Forty-Eight (VP-48) where he made three operational deployments, two to the Northern Pacific based from Naval Air Station Adak, Alaska and one to the Western Pacific based from the Naval Air Station Cubi Point, Republic of the Philippines. While assigned to VP-48, Herrington was designated a Patrol Plane Commander, Mission Commander, and Patrol Plane Instructor Pilot. Following completion of his first operational tour, Herrington then returned to VP-31 as a Fleet Replacement Squadron Instructor Pilot. While assigned to VP-31 he was selected to attend the U.S. Naval Test Pilot School in Patuxent River, Maryland in January 1990. After graduation in December, 1990, he reported to the Force Warfare Aircraft Test Directorate as a project test pilot for the Joint Primary Aircraft Training System. Herrington conducted additional flight test assignments flying numerous variants of the P-3 Orion as well as the T-34C and the DeHavilland Dash 7. Following his selection as an Aeronautical Engineering Duty Officer, Herrington reported to the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School where he completed a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering in June 1995. Herrington was assigned as a special projects officer to the Bureau of Naval Personnel Sea Duty Component when selected for the astronaut program.

He has logged over 3,000 flight hours in over 30 different types of aircraft.

NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA in April 1996, Herrington reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. Having completed two years of training and evaluation, he is qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. Initially, 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. Currently, he is assigned to STS-113 scheduled to launch in 2002.

10 posted on 11/09/2002 10:20:19 AM PST by MilspecRob
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To: Jeff Chandler
>>>Is this what our space program has become: a vehicle for ethnic harmony and PC symbolism?<<<

Of course! How else can NASA justify charging taxpayers $600 million per Shuttle flight when the Russians can get you to space & back on a Soyuz for just $20 million?
11 posted on 11/09/2002 10:55:37 AM PST by End The Hypocrisy
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To: Hank Rearden
>>>A privitized space industry would just get to work, not spend its time putting out politically-correct press releases.<<<

Privatizing the space industry could be done remarkably easily with reforms such as these:

http://www.spaceprojects.com/reforms

BUT opportunists at NASA want to keep others subservient to, and dependant upon, them. The way they corruptly dole out minority contracts is revealing indeed: http://www.spaceprojects.com/minority-contracts .
12 posted on 11/09/2002 10:58:14 AM PST by End The Hypocrisy
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To: anymouse; joanie-f; snopercod; TPartyType
With only a couple, maybe three exceptions, all the flyers aboard the Space Shuttle flights have been native Americans.

The above news story is about an indigenous native American, about whom our ancestral terminology has referred to as American Indian.

By the way, the terms "chief" and "warrior" are not native American expressions originally; they formerly derive from Scotland and various other parts of mainland Europe.

The Air Apaches of the U.S. Army Air Forces flew in the worst of Southwest Pacific Theatre conditions, and however they chose, as have many before and since chosen, to "gear up" for combat by donning war paint.

We still do.

Only the fussy-dom of fascist-socialism that is destroying the Democrat Party, is uncomfortable with the superficial and therein they are lost.

  

Mike

Native American

13 posted on 11/09/2002 1:21:08 PM PST by First_Salute
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To: Jeff Chandler
Is this what our space program has become: a vehicle for ethnic harmony and PC symbolism?

Yes. That, and the clinton/gore sellout to the miserable Russians. That's why I got out three years ago. From my resignation letter:

This once-proud program, which sparked the imaginations of millions of Americans such as myself, has seemingly been reduced to some kind of pathetic international welfare agency, transferring billions of US taxpayer dollars directly away from our professed mission and into the accounts of whichever foreign "partners" are favored by our current president.

These so-called "partners" have siphoned off American taxpayer money for purposes know only to themselves and provided nothing of value in return to the US taxpayers. The hardware and services that they cynically promised to provide have not materialized and probably never will.

Thanks to the policies of our current administration, the US Space Shuttle program now finds itself being held hostage to the whims of a miserable socialist country run by a declining alcoholic buffoon and a communist legislature.

How could our so-called leaders have let this happen?

Worst of all, it seems that seats on the few remaining Space Shuttle flights are now being handed out in return for political favors or to support causes unrelated to the exploration of space and other than the furtherance of our technical knowledge. Besides being an affront to those of us who once loved the space program, this new policy is a slap in the face to all those dedicated astronauts who have spent years (in some cases 30 years) honing their talents to better serve their love of space exploration.

These new trends are (or should be) alarming to all of us who believe that ability should be the sole criterion in Astronaut selection, and science or "envelope-pushing" should be the sole criteria for mission planning. The American Manned Space Program cannot and will not survive on any other terms.


14 posted on 11/09/2002 1:31:52 PM PST by snopercod
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To: anymouse

15 posted on 11/09/2002 1:33:55 PM PST by Consort
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To: anymouse
"I think it's going to fill me with an incredible sense of who I am."

Right kimosabe, the space program is all about your feelings.

Think he's a liberal?

16 posted on 11/09/2002 1:34:39 PM PST by snopercod
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To: First_Salute
Thanks for reminding us what it means to be a Native American.

Anyone who believes that it is a requirement of man's nature to be free and that the function of government is to protect his rights is an American at heart.

17 posted on 11/09/2002 1:43:36 PM PST by snopercod
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To: Jimer
Is that politically incorrect?
18 posted on 11/09/2002 3:22:17 PM PST by Bogey78O
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To: ken in texas
In my local (liberal) newspaper, the title said "American Indian."
Raised my eyebrows to see AP not saying "Native American."
19 posted on 11/09/2002 3:25:02 PM PST by EllaMinnow
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To: Bogey78O
Is that politically incorrect?

The seal is described in The Constitution Of the Chickasaw Nation. Scroll down to the last Section (About the Seal).

20 posted on 11/09/2002 3:40:25 PM PST by Consort
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