ADA, Okla. - Hundreds of cheering supporters packed the McSwain Theatre for the return of a hero. Chickasaw astronaut John B. Herrington returned on Saturday, Feb. 22 to share his experiences during his November 2002, shuttle mission when he became the first Native American in space.
A moment of silence was observed in honor of the crew of the Columbia shuttle, after which David Ballard and Tabitha Faire performed an original song and presented a video paying tribute to the fallen astronauts.
Commander Herrington, U.S.N., has been working on Columbia recovery efforts. He said Saturday was his first public appearance since the tragic loss and with obvious emotion, he said he appreciated the tribute to his seven fellow astronauts.
"Unfortunately, the Columbia tragedy points out that flying in space is a risky endeavor," said Cmdr. Herrington. "Everybody tries very, very hard on a daily basis to make space flight as safe as possible, but there are inherent risks in what we do."
"It hurts us as a family, and that's exactly what NASA is. NASA is a family. Every time a shuttle launches it is an emotional experience. People are crying, people are cheering, clapping, and when it comes back, it's the same.
"We want to find out what happened to it. We want to find out what caused that and we want to correct that and press on, because the day we give up exploring, the day we give up taking risks to better our world, is the day we?re going to fail as a human race, I think."
In that spirit, Cmdr. Herrington shared a video presentation of his experiences on his space shuttle mission. Beginning with preparations for launch through the successful landing of STS-113, Cmdr. Herrington gave an in-depth look at the flight.
Video scenes included the hard work of transferring tons of gear, experiments and other equipment to and from the International Space Station to space walks to lighter moments of the crew enjoying the microgravity environment in the shuttle.
While it took hours for the crew to transfer dozens of packages to and from the space station, Cmdr. Herrington pointed out that the task was made easier by the microgravity environment that allowed crew members to move several hundred pound packages with their fingertips.
Scenes of space walks featured spectacular views of earth. A real-time view of the transition from daylight to darkness, which takes place in a matter of seconds on the shuttle, was also included.
Lighter moments included a view of the crew drinking orange juice in a weightless environment. This was accomplished by releasing small amounts of juice, which floated in perfect spheres due to surface tension. Crew members would then catch the floating globes of juice in their mouths.
Cmdr. Herrington ended his presentation by thanking those in the audience for their support.
"I am very honored to be able to come back and share with you my flight because we all flew this together," said Cmdr. Herrington. "Spiritually, I knew there were thousands and thousands of people flying with me and that was very comforting."
"I wanted a chance to bring that back, and I appreciate very much you taking the time out to come share this with me and see what we can do as a nation and I look forward to doing it again."
