Celebrating Native American Heritage Month: John Herrington, first Native American astronaut

John Herrington, born September 14, 1958 Wetumka, Oklahoma in the Chickasaw Nation, is the first enrolled member of a Native American tribe to fly into space.  He flew aboard Endeavour (STS-113) as mission specialist in November-December 2002.  During the mission, he performed three EVAs with fellow astronaut with fellow astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria for a total of almost 20 hours. 

He was commander of the NEEMO 6 mission of NASA's Aquarius underwater laboratory in July 2004.

On November 21, 2019, he was inducted into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame.

Soyuz TMA-9 launched 2006

Soyuz TMA-9 crew (L-R): Michael Lopez-Alegria, Anousheh Ansari, Mikhail Tyurin

Mission patch

Soyuz TMA-9, launched September 18, 2006, transported a tourist to the International Space Station and another back to Earth.  Its crew consisted of Commander Mikhail Tyurin (Roscosmos) and Michael Lopez-Alegria (NASA).  Anousheh Ansari, an Iranian-American engineer, was the first self-funded woman in space, the fourth overall self-funded space tourist, and the first Iranian in space.

Tyurin and Lopez-Alegria were part of Expedition 14.  They returned to Earth in April 2007 with space tourist Charles Simonyi, the second Hungarian in space.  Ansari stayed only 9 days aboard the ISS.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Peter (Jeff) Wisoff!

Peter "Jeff" Wisoff, born August 16, 1958 in Norfolk, Virginia, is a veteran of four space shuttle flights.

His first mission was aboard Endeavour (STS-57) as mission specialist in June-July 1993.  He conducted a spacewalk with fellow astronaut David Low last almost 6 hours to retrieve the European Retrievable Carrier (EURECA) science satellite.

His second flight was aboard Endeavour (STS-68) as mission specialist in September-October 1994. Wisoff relayed information of storms, lightning and fires to the Space Radar Laboratory (SRL-2) scientists.

Wisoff's third mission was aboard Atlantis (STS-81) as mission specialist in January 1997.  It was the fifth space shuttle mission to the space station Mir.

His fourth and final flight was aboard Discovery (STS-92) as mission specialist to the International Space Station in October 2000, the 100th space shuttle mission of the program.  During the flight Wisoff performed two EVAs with fellow astronaut Michael Lopez-Alegria for a total of 14 hours.

Wisoff is married to fellow astronaut Tamara Jernigan.

Endeavour (STS-113) launched 2002

STS-113 (L-R): Paul S. Lockhart, Michael López-Alegría, John Herrington, James D. Wetherbee

Mission patch

Expedition 6 crew (L-R): Donald Pettit, Ken Bowersox and Nikolai Budarin

Space Shuttle Endeavour (STS-113), launched November 23, 2002, was a mission to exchange Expeditions 5 and 6 on the International Space Station.  Its crew consisted of Commander James Wetherbee, Pilot Paul Lockhart, Michael Lopez-Alegria and John Herrington.  The members of Expedition 6 being carried to the ISS were Kenneth Bowersox, Nikolai Budarin and Donald Pettit.  The returning members of Expedition 5 were Valery Korzun, Peggy Whitson, and Sergei Treshchov.

Happy birthday, Space Shuttle astronaut Michael López-Alegría!

Michael Lopez-Alegria, born May 30, 1958 in Madrid, Spain, is a veteran of three space shuttle missions and one Soyuz mission.  He was raised in Mission Viejo, California and became a Naval Aviator in 1981.  Part of his naval experience was over here at the NAS Patuxent River, Maryland.

His first mission in space was on Columbia (STS-73) October-November 1995 as mission specialist.

His second trip was on Discovery (STS-92) in October 2000 as mission specialist. He conducted two EVAs with fellow astronaut Peter Wisoff.

His third shuttle mission was as mission specialist on Endeavour (STS-113) November-December 2002.  Lopez-Alegria conducted 3 more EVAs with fellow astronaut John Herrington.

His fourth and final flight was aboard Soyuz TMA-9, launched September 18, 2006 to the International Space Station as a member of Expedition 14.  He returned to Earth April 21, 2007.

He holds the second all-time record for EVA duration (67 hours, 40 minutes).  He has the third longest stay in space of American astronauts - 215 days.

Lopez-Alegria retired from NASA March 12, 2012.

Discovery, 100th Space Shuttle mission, launched 2000

Front row (L-R): Melroy, Duffy; 

Back row (L-R): Chiao, Lopez-Alegria, McArthur, Wisoff, Wakata

Space Shuttle Discovery blasted off October 11, 2000 on the 100th mission (STS-92) of the space shuttle program.  Seven astronauts docked with the International Space Station for seven days and performed 4 EVAs.

Discovery's crew consisted of Commander Brian Duffy, Pilot Pamela Melroy (remember her? She was the one who had Alan Parsons Project's Prime Time as her wake up call!), Mission Specialist 1 Koichi Wakata (remember him?  He would be the first Japanese commander of the ISS!), Mission Specialist 2 William McArthur, Mission Specialist 3 Peter Wisoff, Mission Specialist 4 Michael Lopez-Alegria (remember him? He's the first Spanish-born astronaut in space!), and Mission Specialist 5 Leroy Chiao (remember him?  He's the one who saw UFO lights during an EVA!).

Celebrating National Hispanic Heritage Month - Michael López-Alegría, first Spanish-born astronaut

Michael Lopez-Alegria, born in Madrid, Spain, moved to the U.S. with his parents when he was about two years old.  He grew up in southern California and has been on 3 Space Shuttle flights and one Soyuz mission.

His first mission was on board Columbia (STS-73) in October-November 1995 as a mission specialist.  His second flight was on Discovery (STS-92) in October 2000 also as a mission specialist.  His final flight was on Endeavour (STS-113) in November-December 2002.

In September 2006, Lopez-Alegria took off in Soyuz TMA-9 as Flight Engineer to the International Space Station where he became commander of Expedition 14.  He returned to Earth in April 2007.

Lopez-Alegriz holds the record for an American astronaut for number of EVAs (10) and total duration of EVAs (67 hours, 40 minutes - that's almost 3 days!).  He holds the second-longest record for total duration of EVAs for a human, behind only Anatoly Solovyev.

Space shuttle Columbia (STS-73) launches 1995

Front row (L-R): Albert Sacco, Jr.; Kent V. Rominger; Michael Lopez-Alegria

Back row (L-R): Catherine G. Coleman; Commander Kenneth D. Bowersox; Fred W. Leslie, Kathryn C. Thornton

Space Shuttle Columbia (STS-73) successfully launched October 20, 1995 after six previous aborted launches.  It ties with STS-61-C for the most number of scrubs.  On Day 6 of the mission, the crew threw out the ceremonial first pitch for Game 5 of the World Series.  Mission Specialist 2 Michael Lopez-Alegria is the first Spanish-born astronaut.

Some of the crew appeared on the "Fear of Flying" episode of Home Improvement, February 3, 1996.

Oh, and UFOlogists claim Catherine Coleman reported seeing a UFO.  Another first for NASA!





http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-73.html

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/STS-73

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0603460/?ref_=ttep_ep5