"John is a NASA astronaut, however, it is his many spectacular talents and abilities that make him valuable to the Rocketplane team," said Rocketplane President George French.

"He is a military test pilot, knows flight avionics and astronautics, and knows the environment of space. To us, John is an asset in that he brings education, knowledge, experience, and skills to finish and test our spaceplane, which will regularly take civilian astronauts into space."

CAPT. John B. Herrington (USN) is the first Native American to fly and walk in space and is an enrolled member of the Chickasaw Nation of Oklahoma. Born in Wetumka, Okla., Herrington has logged 330 hours in space, including nearly 20 hours of extra-vehicular activity, since NASA selected him as an astronaut candidate in 1996. As Mission Specialist aboard Space Shuttle Endeavour, STS-113 (Nov. 23 to Dec. 7, 2002), he exhibited spectacular skill assembling and repairing the International Space Station as part of the mission.

Throughout his career with NASA and the United States Navy, Herrington has logged more than 4,000 flight hours in more than 30 different types of aircraft. He is retiring from his position with NASA Johnson Space Center to join the Rocketplane team.

Herrington received a Bachelor of Science degree in Applied Mathematics from the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs in 1983 and a Master of Science degree in Aeronautical Engineering from the U.S. Naval Postgraduate School in 1995.

The recipient of numerous honors, Herrington was a Distinguished Naval Graduate from Aviation Officer Candidate School in 1984. He was awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal, Navy Commendation Medal, Navy Meritorious Unit Commendation, Coast Guard Meritorious Unit Commendation, Coast Guard Special Operations Service Ribbon, National Defense Medal, three Sea Service Deployment Ribbons, and various other service honors.

Rocketplane is an Oklahoma corporation striving to make space travel as safe, convenient, and commonplace as air travel. Rocketplane will design and build state-of-the-art reusable spaceplanes, provide unparalleled human training and spaceflight experiences, and transport innovative scientific experiments and valuable payloads to sub-orbital space and beyond.

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