

NASA astronaut John Herrington became the first ever Native American to travel to space during a historic mission to the International Space Station. He lives in the Idaho wilderness, flies his own plane, has cycled over 4000 miles cross-country from Washington to Florida and for his most recent adventure features as one of two inspiring U.S. trailblazers exploring America in Brand USA’s incredible film “Into America’s Wild”. His inspirational stories have landed him a well suited role as a motivational speaker and will surely both inspire and motivate you here on the Big Travel Podcast…
On this episode we cover:
Space…what it’s like to be out there
Launch…how it feels to be blasted into the sky
David Bowie’s Space Oddity
How you could be lost in space
Chris Hadfield singing Bowie from space
General Tom Stafford from Oklahoma
The story behind the International Space Station
Orbiting the earth every 90 minutes
The app you can use to track the space station!
Hurtling through the sky at 28,000 kmph
The earth really is round…
Being in constant free fall around the earth
Having to fly beneath the space station to dock
Docking at 10ft per second
Being responsible for running the computers
What it feels like to do a space walk
(note; you hang on tight!)
What it feels like to see earth from space
The breath-taking the moment of seeing the Bahamas float into view from space
How being in space makes you feel very insignificant
Riding a bike across the United States
The beauty of the earth at night
Trying to sleep whilst floating
Seeing London, Paris, the Middle East and more from space
Taking 20 minutes to go from Sydney to LA
How you get back into the atmosphere
If you worry about it you shouldn’t be there
Being sick on arrival back in gravity
Being the ‘bartender’ on board
The stand out moment on the end of the space station ‘the ultimate cliff’
Whether we are alone in this universe
‘Life has to be out there’
The closest star being 70,000 years away at current propulsion
Life on earth being pretty bizarre too
Were aliens here before us..?
Being the first native American astronaut
The ancestors making incredible structures that still stand today
Being from the Chickasaw tribe
His childhood in Oklahoma, Colorado, Wyoming and Texas
Always liking being in nature
Being in the navy for 13 years before NASA
Being in NASA for 6 years
Losing his friends on the Columbia shuttle disaster
Going to work for a space tourism millionaire
Setting off to cycle across America
Flunking out of college
How certain people can help you turn your life around
Being the inspiration for young people to become engineers
If you can’t see it you can’t become it
Growing up watching astronauts on TV
But taking time to realise he could actually be them
His off the beaten path film for xxxxx
Ariel Tweto Flying Wild Alaska
The lessons he learnt about America
So many beautiful things to do in the US
But the importance of travelling further afield
Living surrounded by wilderness central Idaho
Owning an aeroplane!
Rowing a rubber raft on the Lower Salmon River in Idaho
His family having lived in Morocco and West Africa
Wanting his grandkids to experience life outside the US – Europe, Africa and more
Travel being expensive – but there being ways of doing it
How you can just get on your bike and go!
Dusting the ice of his tent in Colorado near Rocky Mountain National Park
Living on the Trans American route from Oregon
The Japanese man peddling the length of the US
Sleeping on his boat and looking up at the Milky Way and thinking wow…
Watching the space station going over on his app
Visiting fellow pilot Philippe Perrin in Toulouse being a favourite trip
Not feeling scared in space…
…but being terrified when lost in a mission between Russia and Alaska
The plane that had the annoying habit of its wings falling off (!)
Feeling happiest playing with his grandson and children in the mountains
The Willie Nelson song about travel that inspires him