Author of Mission to Space, a children’s book about his space travels, which includes an English to Chickasaw vocabulary list.

John Herrington is a retired NASA astronaut who was the first enrolled citizen of a Native American tribe to fly in space. John was born in Wetumka, Oklahoma into the Chickasaw Nation. He moved and grew up in Colorado, Wyoming, and Texas where he graduated high school. He received his bachelor’s degree in applied mathematics from CU Boulder. In 1984, he began his career in the Navy as a member of the Aviation Officer Candidate School in Pensacola Florida. He completed multiple operational assignments in this role before becoming a Naval test pilot in 1990. In June 1995, he attended the U.S. Naval Postdoctoral School to obtain his Master’s in aeronautical engineering. He earned numerous medals with the Navy and was selected by NASA in 1996 to be a mission specialist for shuttle launch operations and post-landing operations. He was the mission specialist for STS-113 on the shuttle Endeavor that delivered crew and structural support to the international space station. He was in space for just under 14 days where he carried the Chickasaw flag. He completed 3 space walks for a total of just under 20 hours which are commemorated on the back of the 2019 Sacagawea dollar coin. He resigned from NASA in 2005.