MEET A REAL HERO . . . JAKE GARN!

On Thursday, March 3, Miss Mitchell was able to meet a real hero!  Jake Garn.  Senator Garn grew up in Richfield, Utah.  He was 19 when he first went outside of Utah...driving over the border to Idaho!
Senator Garn was an insurance agent, Navy pilot, Brigadier General, Salt Lake County Commissioner, Salt Lake Mayor, US Senator, and Astronaut!

An interesting fact:  Senator Garn served in the US Senate from 1974-1993.  He replace Senator Wallace F. Bennett.  When Senator Garn retired from the Senate, his replacement was Senator Bob Bennett...the son of Senator Wallace Bennett!

Senator Garn was the first civilian to fly on the space shuttle...making him a real live astronaut!  He was the Payload Specialist on the mission.  He was to be on the Challenger flight, but was changed to fly on Discovery.  He trained with the Challenger astronauts...who were killed on their launch into space.  One of the fun experiments he was able to conduct on board, was to see how toys react in weightlessness!

Senator Garn logged 2.5 million miles in space...with 108 orbits of the earth.  He saw 16 sunrises and 16 sunsets each day of the flight.  He said Earth was breathtaking!  

THANK YOU FOR YOUR SERVICE TO OUR COUNTRY!