About this episode

Rett Nelson interviews John Herrington about his experiences as the first Native American spacewalker and his journey to becoming an astronaut.

Since the launch of Sputnik in 1957, more than 700 people have flown in space, according to whoisinspace.com . Of those, 250 people have walked in space. In 2002, John Herrington became the first Native American to walk in space as part of a 13-day mission to the International Space Station. The 67-year-old retired astronaut with ties to Idaho recently spoke to locals at the Shoshone-Bannock Hotel & Event Center. We caught up with him for this episode of “It’s Worth Mentioning.” This week, Rett Nelson speaks with Herrington about his Native American heritage and his thoughts on representing his people on his historic mission. Before Herrington was an astronaut, he was a young boy in Colorado Springs. His dad was a pilot, and he started flying airplanes at a young age as a result. He recalls seeing Neil Armstrong walk on the moon and how that inspired him to pursue that path. After graduating from high school in Plano, Texas, he enlisted in the Navy. During his time at the Naval Air Station in Pensacola, Florida, he saw plaques of former students in the hallway, several of whom later became astronauts. Herrington shares who they were and how it instilled in him a greater…

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