First American Indian astronaut was awe-struck and intimidated during his spacewalks

<br>CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) _ After completing three spacewalks in five days, astronaut John Herrington got a chance to relax Sunday and reflect on what it was like to hurtle around Earth at 17,500 mph

Sunday, December 1st 2002, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) _ After completing three spacewalks in five days, astronaut John Herrington got a chance to relax Sunday and reflect on what it was like to hurtle around Earth at 17,500 mph _ outside his spaceship.

He couldn't help but think: ``That's a loooong way down.''

Herrington, an Oklahoma native, said he was somewhat intimidated by the fact that at any moment, he might find himself in uncontrollable motion and break away from the international space station, which would be ``a bad thing.''

``So I was always constantly on guard that I was maintaining the best control I could and that I had my proper tether protocol,'' he said. ``But it was very awe-inspiring. It's a beautiful sight to look down and see the Earth from this altitude.''

Herrington, the first American Indian in space and a member of the Chickasaw Nation, helped NASA get a stalled space station railcar moving again during his final spacewalk of the mission Saturday. In his two earlier outings, he helped install a $390 million station girder that was delivered by space shuttle Endeavour.

His one-week visit to the space station will end Monday afternoon, when Endeavour undocks and heads back to Earth for a Wednesday touchdown. The shuttle will return three former space station residents who have been in orbit since early June.

In an interview with Indian Country Today, Herrington said the first time he looked out Endeavour's windows after blasting off Nov. 23, he was amazed at how massive the Earth was _ and how minute the atmosphere. It made him realize ``how insignificant we are in the great scheme of things.''

``In the spiritual sense, it makes me appreciate how grand the grand scheme is of Mother Earth,'' he said.

Herrington said he carefully chose a variety of American Indian objects to take into space _ eagle feathers, wooden flutes, arrowheads, braided sweet grass _ ``that I think represents a lot of the spiritual sense that we all feel.''

He wanted to take tobacco, too, because of its purifying value, but NASA said no. The 44-year-old astronaut, a Navy pilot, said he recognized NASA's position on banning tobacco aboard spacecraft, but noted: ``A lot of folks don't realize that we do use it in a spiritual sense.''

Herrington said flying in space _ and doing productive work up there _ probably is the most fulfilling thing he's ever done in his career.