John Herrington, the retired Navy commander whom NASA considers the first citizen of a federally recognized tribe to fly in space, is coming to the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City on Monday, November 23. The evening pairs a screening of the giant-screen film Into America's Wild, in which he appears, with a talk and audience question session. General admission is $10.

What the evening includes

The program runs from 7 to 9 p.m. The film starts at 7 p.m., and Herrington's talk and Q&A begin at 7:45 p.m.

Into America's Wild is narrated by Morgan Freeman. It follows three travelers through American landscapes: Herrington, Alaskan pilot Ariel Tweto and long-distance hiker Jennifer Pharr Davis. After the screening, Herrington is scheduled to talk about how he became an astronaut, what he did in orbit and how he came to be part of the film, before taking questions from the audience.

Who John Herrington is

Herrington is an enrolled citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma. He is a retired naval aviator and test pilot who has logged more than 5,000 hours in over 30 types of aircraft. As an aquanaut, he commanded NASA's sixth Extreme Environment Mission Operations mission, known as NEEMO, and spent nearly 264 hours living underwater.

He flew as a mission specialist on Space Shuttle Endeavour's STS-113 flight, the 16th assembly mission to the International Space Station. Over that mission he traveled more than 5.6 million miles and spent more than 330 hours in space, including three spacewalks that added up to nearly 21 hours outside the spacecraft.

After retiring from the Navy and NASA, he worked in the commercial space industry, then rode a bicycle 4,300 miles across the United States, from Cape Flattery in Washington to Cape Canaveral in Florida. Along the way he stopped at Indian reservations and NASA Explorer Schools to talk with Native American students. At 52 he enrolled at the University of Idaho and earned a doctorate in education, with research on what motivates Native American students to study science, technology, engineering and math. He is the author of a children's book, Mission to Space, and is working on a memoir.

He also holds a bachelor's degree in applied mathematics from the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs and a master's degree in aeronautical engineering from the Naval Postgraduate School.

Why the Cradle

The Cradle of Aviation Museum, on Charles Lindbergh Boulevard in Garden City, runs a daily schedule of films in its planetarium and dome theater, and Into America's Wild is on the current schedule. Visitors who cannot make the Monday evening can still see the film on a regular museum day; a planetarium ticket is $12 for adults on its own, or a $7 add-on to paid museum admission.

The museum's own holiday calendar continues after Herrington's visit, with Thanksgiving weekend activities from November 27 to 29, a Festival of Games on December 5 and 6, and a Grinch pajama party and movie night on Friday, December 18.

Tickets and how to go

  • When: Monday, November 23, 7 to 9 p.m.
  • Where: Cradle of Aviation Museum, Charles Lindbergh Boulevard, Garden City
  • General admission: $10, sold online through the museum's ticketing page
  • Museum members: free, but registration is required by calling reservations at 516-572-4066, Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.

For a regular visit, museum admission is $18 for adults and $16 for children 2 to 12 and seniors 62 and older, and a museum and planetarium combination ticket is $25 for adults and $23 for children and seniors.

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