First Indigenous astronaut wants us to unplug, connect with nature
When John Herrington flew into space nearly a decade ago, he became the first enrolled member of a Native American tribe to orbit the Earth and witness the splendour of nature from space. Now he hopes to inspire us all to unplug and get in touch with nature, ourselves.
On November 24, 2002, the Space Shuttle Endeavour lifted off from the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, Florida, bound for the International Space Station. The seven-person crew was delivering a new piece of the ISS, known as the P1 Truss segment, but the mission was also to ferry crew members to and from the station, ending Expedition 5 and beginning Expedition 6.
One member of the crew was setting a new 'first' for human spaceflight, as well.
By Scott Sutherland