On the Eve of a Dream Come True By Barbra Wakshul John Herrington (front center) leads the astronaut candidate class of 1996 on a group ìswimî through the weightless environment provided by a special parabola flown by NASAís KC-135 aircraft, hangared and maintained at the Johnson Space Center (JSC).

John Herringtonís childhood dream is about to come true. In place of the cardboard box he used in the sixties to simulate a space capsule, NASAís first American Indian astronaut will board a real shuttle in August. Herrington, who is Chickasaw, will head for the International Space Station as a Mission Specialist 2 aboard the space shuttle Endeavour. His coordinating role on the mission will be akin to that of a flight engineer as he helps install a thermal radiator on the station to carry heat away. As part of his duties, he will perform three space walks a couple hundred nautical miles above the earth.

  John Herrington is no stranger to the rigors assigned to the life of an astronaut. He discovered rock climbing after moving from his birth state of Oklahoma to Colorado, and spent more time in his younger years scaling mountains than studying. His grades reflected it, too. By the end of his freshman year at the University of Colorado/Colorado Springs, Herrington received an academic suspension and dropped out of school. Needing income, he landed his ideal job, where he was paid to hang off the side of a mountain as part of a survey crew helping to redesign the interstate that runs through rugged Glenwood Canyon in Colorado. In fact, Herringtonís interest in math and engineering was sparked during the year he spent suspended from giant boulders in that canyon.
 Herringtonís boss recognized the young manís latent talents and urged him to go back to school. In 1978, Herrington returned to UC/Colorado Springs and majored in civil and architectural engineering. A meeting with a retired Navy captain in Herringtonís senior year proved to be a real turning point in his life. Graduating in 1984 with a degree in applied math, Herrington decided on a career with the U.S. Navy.
 Herrington spent 1989 in test pilot school and worked the next three years as a test pilot. In 1995, he received a master of science degree in aeronautical engineering from the Navyís Post-Graduate school (NPS) in Monterey, California. A great honor was bestowed upon him the following year, when he was one of 35 selected from a pool of 2,800 applicants to work for NASA.
 Through his role at NASA, Herrington has found himself in a position to empower and encourage others, especially American Indian students. What does John Herrington like to tell those young people who are waffling, as he did, over the merits of staying in school? ìFind something you enjoy doing,î he urges. ìTalk to people who are doing what you are interested in, who can help you learn what you want to learn. Studying is easier when you like what you are learning.î Looking back over his own life, Herrington is convinced that ìanything is possibleÖYou can be anything you want to be. You have to find it and get it. The difficulty is inversely proportional to how much you enjoy it.î At the same time, Herrington also declares, ìWe make the world we live inÖWeíve got to make the effort. Everything doesnít just fall into your lap.î
 John Herrington thinks about all those who have assisted him in achieving his goals. ìI am standing on the shoulders of everyone who went before meómy parents, teachers, relatives, other NASA workers,î he reflects. All of those individuals, plus his wife and young daughters, fellow members of AISESí Board of Directors, and thousands of students and professionals Herrington has inspired, will be with him in spirit in August as he flies aboard Flight 11 A, the 11th American flight to the International Space Station.

Barbra Wakshul is the marketing director and a contributing editor at Winds of Change.