Astronaut John Herrington (Cmdr., USN) has departed NASA to pursue a career as a commercial test pilot. Herrington is joining Rocketplane Limited Inc. in Oklahoma City, to serve as Vice President; Director of Flight Systems; and Chief Test Pilot.
Herrington is an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. He is the first Native American to fly in space and perform a spacewalk. Herrington was selected by NASA as an astronaut in 1996. He flew aboard Space Shuttle mission STS-113 to the International Space Station in November 2002.
“John Herrington is a remarkable aviator and astronaut,” said Astronaut Office Chief Kent Rominger. “We’ll miss his can-do spirit, but I know John will continue to do great things in private sector aerospace initiatives and in reaching out to young people everywhere.”
For biographical information about Herrington on the Web, visit:
http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/astrobio.html
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