Astronaut John Herrington departs NASA

Allard Beutel
Headquarters, Washington Sept. 9, 2005
(Phone: 202/358-4769)

Doug Peterson
Johnson Space Center, Houston
(Phone: 281/244-8406)

RELEASE: M05-153

ASTRONAUT JOHN HERRINGTON DEPARTS NASA

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

For information about NASA and agency programs on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/home


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Jacques :-)

www.spacepatches.info