Retired NASA astronaut John Herrington to visit Montana State on Sept. 28

BOZEMAN - Retired NASA astronaut John Herrington will speak at Montana State University on Monday, Sept. 28, as part of a national tour with Astronauts For America. The nonprofit, founded by more than 100 former NASA astronauts, aims to engage young adults as active participants in democracy.

Herrington's presentation, followed by a Q&A session, will be held from 5 to 7 p.m. in the Strand Union Building's Procrastinator Theater. The event is free and open to the public, and it is hosted by the MSU Honors College through Honors Presents. Honors Presents is a student-run program connecting Bobcats with topics outside their areas of academic study.

Herrington will share his thoughts on leadership, education, service and civic participation during his talk, which is part of Astronauts For America's Vote for Freedom tour across college campuses this fall. The tour intends to foster constitutional literacy, civil discourse and voter engagement among college students.

During the event, Herrington will also reflect on his professional journey as a naval aviator and NASA astronaut, sharing insights into the opportunities and challenges facing human spaceflight. A citizen of the Chickasaw Nation in Oklahoma, Herrington was the first member of a federally recognized tribe to fly in space in 2002. He traveled aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour to the International Space Station, accumulating more than 330 hours in orbit and performing three spacewalks. Herrington then commanded the sixth NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations mission as an aquanaut, spending nearly 264 hours in an underwater lab studying survival techniques for space exploration.

As a retiree, Herrington earned a doctorate in education at the University of Idaho and authored a children's book, "Mission to Space." He now resides in northwest Montana.