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Check out the book here https://amzn.to/2UsW2TH
John B. Herrington is a former US Naval Aviator and NASA astronaut. He’s the first enrolled Native American to go into space and he did that with NASA mission STS-113. He’s also written a children’s book on his time as an astronaut and the book includes Chickasaw words for space terms. He also has a PhD in Education and we talked about STEM, Native American issues, his book, his time in space, and space business and exploration in general. We had the conversation while he was in a train station so please forgive some of the background noise. (The audio player is at the bottom of the post.)
1:03 – John talks about his time in space as a space shuttle mission specialist.
1:35 – John talks about getting into science education.
2:50 – John talks about his goals in getting Native American kids more interested in math and science.
4:20 – John talks about what his education in his early years was like.
6:16 – John discusses how he became interesting in supporting Native American education.
7:45 – John talks about how to grow STEM on Native American reservations.
9:22 – John talks about when to get kids interested in STEM.
11:39 – John talks about necessary changes in educational curriculum.
12:40 – John discusses cutbacks in art education.
14:25 – John talks about problems within space exploration and commercialization.
17:45 – John talks about the China-US space race.
19:29 – John talks about space tourism.
21:32 – John talks about pushing the envelope in space travel.
22:00 – John talks about the benefits of the space station.
23:20 – John discusses SpaceX’s efforts.
25:07 – John talks about support to graduate students.
26:18 – John talks about business competition within the space industry.
27:40 – John talks about the problem with reducing educational dollars.
29:16 – John talks about what he would do if he were head of NASA and could decide how to promote science.
32:43 – John talks about NASA outreach to teachers.
34:08 – John talks about translating space words in Chickasaw.
34:48 – John talks about Native American pride today.
38:14 – John talks about how he went from being a US Naval Aviator to an astronaut.
40:00 – John talks about what he did to make the astronaut program.
41:24 – John talks about flight training for the shuttle and space walk training.
42:41 – John talks about hair-raising incidents during training.
44:12 – John talks about how he mentally got past extreme stress during space flight.
45:38 – John talks about how the team works through extreme stress during flight.
46:53 – John talks about the feelings he had when he went through flight and into space.
48:19 – John talks about how he felt when he went on his space walk.
49:24 – John talks about the post-flight debrief and issues they had during the flight.
50:29 – John jokes about Navy versus Air Force.
50:58 – John talks about the surprises he experienced while on the flight and sleeping during the flight.
52:21 – John talks about docking with the space station.
54:21 – John talks about how a private company might do the same work as the mission did.
55:18 – John talks about how SpaceX fueled a recent flight after the astronauts were in it.
58:44 – John talks about the current budget for space travel.
1:02:30 – John talks about being a test pilot.
1:03:50 – John talks about what it was like when the shuttle program was ended and how SpaceX did its hiring.
1:04:53 – John talks about enjoying watching his friends fly.
1:06:06 – John talks about some new technological advances and flying to Mars.
1:07:59 – John talks about the moon versus Mars first debate.
1:11:06 – John talks about Gene Roddenberry and Star Trek.
1:13:38 – John can be on Facebook at Commander John B. Herrington.
1:14:50 – John talks about picosats and launching them from the shuttle.
Links of interest
https://www.facebook.com/cdrjohnbherrington/
https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-113.html
For more “Spacewalks Money Talks” please follow me at www.spacewalksmoneytalks.com , on Facebook at Spacewalks Money Talks, on twitter at SpacewalksMT, on youtube at Spacewalks Money Talks , and on Apple Podcast | Stitcher | Spotify
Guests: John B. Herrington
Host: Cris Alvarez
Tags: space, exploration, commercialization, science, space shuttle, native american, idaho, science education, montana, wyoming, shoshone-payute, rock climbing, colorado, NASA, engineering, math education, space commerce, spacex, rockwell, united space alliance, moon, space mining, space tourism, Bigelow, inflatable habitat, Boeing, Elon Musk, Creek, US Navy, test pilot, space flight readiness, Crippin, high-energy particles, SpaceX, risk mitigation, picosat, space coast, cape canaveral, variable ISP, Roddenberry, Star Trek
Check out the book here https://amzn.to/2UsW2TH
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