First Native American in space to speak at Stillwater Library

(STILLWATER, Okla.) Chickasaw Astronaut John Herrington will speak at the Stillwater Public Library on Wednesday, July 17, from 6:30-7:30 p.m. The event is free and open to the public. Attendees will also be able to look at a real space suit and space food, as well as purchase signed copies of Herrington’s children’s book “Mission to Space”. Herrington, a U.S. Navy officer, was born in Wetumka, Oklahoma. He traveled to the International Space Station in the space shuttle STS-113 Endeavor, which launched on November 23, 2002, bringing with him eagle feathers, arrowheads, wooden flutes, and flags of the Chickasaw and Crow nations. Herrington accomplished three space walks totaling nineteen hours and fifty-five minutes. He was inducted into the Chickasaw Nation Hall of Fame in 2002 and the Oklahoma Aviation and Space Hall of Fame in 2007. July’s event is made possible thanks to the Oklahoma NASA Space Grant Consortium.