Posted on 12/01/2002 4:40:24 PM PST by gg188
Astronaut Was Awe-Struck During Spacewalk
The Associated Press
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. Dec. 1 — After completing three spacewalks in five days, astronaut John Herrington got a chance to relax Sunday and reflect on what it was like to hurtle around Earth at 17,500 mph outside his spaceship.
He couldn't help but think: "That's a loooong way down."
Herrington said he was somewhat intimidated by the fact that at any moment, he might find himself in uncontrollable motion and break away from the international space station, which would be "a bad thing."
"So I was always constantly on guard that I was maintaining the best control I could and that I had my proper tether protocol," he said. "But it was very awe-inspiring. It's a beautiful sight to look down and see the Earth from this altitude."
Herrington, the first American Indian in space and a member of the Chickasaw Nation, helped NASA get a stalled space station railcar moving again during his final spacewalk of the mission Saturday. In his two earlier outings, he helped install a $390 million station girder that was delivered by space shuttle Endeavour.
His one-week visit to the space station will end Monday afternoon, when Endeavour undocks and heads back to Earth for a Wednesday touchdown. The shuttle will return three former space station residents who have been in orbit since early June.
In an interview with Indian Country Today, Herrington said the first time he looked out Endeavour's windows after blasting off Nov. 23, he was amazed at how massive the Earth was and how minute the atmosphere. It made him realize "how insignificant we are in the great scheme of things."
"In the spiritual sense, it makes me appreciate how grand the grand scheme is of Mother Earth," he said.
Herrington said he carefully chose a variety of American Indian objects to take into space eagle feathers, wooden flutes, arrowheads, braided sweet grass "that I think represents a lot of the spiritual sense that we all feel."
He wanted to take tobacco, too, because of its purifying value, but NASA said no. The 44-year-old astronaut, a Navy pilot, said he recognized NASA's position on banning tobacco aboard spacecraft, but noted: "A lot of folks don't realize that we do use it in a spiritual sense."
In fact, just before launch, Herrington said he and a good friend "smudged" outside NASA crew quarters, waving smoke from burning leaves onto themselves for purification.
Herrington said flying in space and doing productive work up there probably is the most fulfilling thing he's ever done in his career.
Buzz Aldrin is also a 32nd Degree Scottish Rite Mason, and he took a little Masonic pennant depicting the Scottish Rite's double-headed eagle symbol to the moon with him.
Oh, but we know the Masons are Satanic Illuminists, so he couldn't have been taking Christian communion up there, couldn't he? /sarcasm
;-)
When our astronauts flout their personal lives and agendas, rather than focusing purely on mission, it makes our space program look unprofessional, and makes us nothing more than a laughing stock among the serious players on the world stage.
And no, it makes no difference whether it's Jerry Falwall thumping his bible or some Native American shaman lighting up.
Best way to get about is on your own two feet.
There's more than one of them, and in some places (South Carolina, apparently) they have enough political power to legislate away our freedoms. They also like to play the part of innocent victim/martyr and whine about how everybody else is smearing them and it's not fair. They can take away our freedoms, and when we complain about it, we're labeled whiners or we're accused of being overly fixated on the subject.
If tattoos are such a trivial thing, why is it necessary to outlaw them?
There's more than one of them, they tend to travel in packs, and they are hostile to anything that isn't their faith, to the point of wanting NO non-Christians in the space program (they might make room for a few Jews, being so progressive and all, but they've got no room for native American Indians, a people who were slaughtered by germs and almost finished off by Christians)
In the first flight around the Moon, the astronauts of Apollo 8 read ten verses from the Book of Genesis on Christmas Eve.
Immediately after landing on the Moon, Apollo 12 astronaut 'Buzz' Aldrin took Communion and read:
"I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing." John 15:5
I agree - I consider it one of the great moments of the 20th century
Don't see Windtalkers. There's all kinds of spiritual stuff in the movie that will likely offend you. And finding out Native Americans were heroes of WWII (it is said that we couldn't have taken Iwo Jima without them) - that'll just send you over the edge. Better avoid it. (It's not for bigots, that's for sure.)
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