This Day in History: 2017-11-10
November 6, 2012 – “Mazie Hirono Elected to U.S. Senate”
Mazie Hirono became the first Asian American woman elected to the U.S. Senate on November 6, 2012. She is also the first elected woman Senator from Hawaii, the first U.S. Senator born in Japan and the nation’s first Buddhist Senator. Prior to getting elected to the U.S. Senate, Hirono served as the congresswoman from Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district from 2007 to 2013. She has served on the Senate Committee on Armed Services, Committee on Environment and Public Works and Committee on Veterans’ Affairs.
November 23, 2002 - "First Native American Travels to Space"
John Herrington, a registered member of the Chickasaw Nation, was the first Native American to travel into space as the mission specialist for STS-113, the 16th mission to the International Space Station. During his mission, Herrington performed three spacewalks that totaled 19 hours and 55 minutes. The length of his mission was 13 days, 18 hours and 47 minutes. Herrington was inducted to the Chickasaw Hall of Fame the same year he went into space. William Pogue, a crewman aboard Skylab 4 in 1973-1974, had Choctaw ancestry, but was not an enrolled member of the Choctaw.