Astronaut Wilson blazing trails to space

It’s interesting that so many people involved in space and astronomy can point to a particular moment when they became interested in the field as a career. For astronaut Stephanie Wilson it happened when she was about 13 years old.

Astronaut Stephanie Wilson spoke about
her inspiration for pursuing a career
in aerospace during a talk to participants
in the Michael P. Anderson Memorial
Aerospace Program Saturday at the Museum
of Flight. Photo: Greg Scheiderer.

“I was given a school assignment to interview somebody who worked in an interesting career field,” Wilson recalled. “I was interested in astronomy at the time, so I interviewed an astronomy professor at Williams College.”

Wilson said she was fascinated by the opportunities to travel, do research, and teach to which a career in astronomy might lead.

“That was my first interest in space and my introduction to science,” Wilson said.

Wilson spoke Saturday at the Museum of Flight in a presentation to the Michael P. Anderson Memorial Aerospace Program. The program, named after the Washington-native astronaut who died in the space shuttle Columbia tragedy in 2003, aims to provide inspiration and role models for students who are underrepresented in aerospace.

“It really started a thought process about what other opportunities were available and what were some other ways that I could function in aerospace,” Wilson said of her talk with the astronomy professor. “I also had an interest in working with my hands and understanding how devices are put together, so I did decide to study engineering in college.”

This statue of astronaut Michael P. Anderson
is outside the Museum of Flight in Seattle.
Photo: Greg Scheiderer.

She earned degrees in engineering science at Harvard and in aerospace engineering at the University of Texas. Wilson held jobs in structural dynamics, robotics, and spacecraft attitude control before becoming part of the astronaut class of 1996. She was the second African-American woman to fly in space, going on three shuttle missions to the International Space Station. During her presentation Wilson showed video of highlights of her STS-131 mission in 2010.

She has logged 42 days in space, and hopes to go again. She said she’d especially enjoy a longer mission during which she could spend six months on the ISS.

Michael Anderson was part of the 1995 astronaut class, and Wilson met and flew with him during her early days with NASA. She said that gives her some extra affinity for his namesake aerospace program’s goals.

“I really hope that people see that, as a woman and as an engineer, I tried to worked hard in that field, I did the best that I could to advance those fields,” Wilson said. “I also hope that people see that I tried to make a path so that people could follow in those footsteps and continue on their work. I hope that young people will see that anything is possible.”

Astronaut Harris talks about the dream of space

Dr. Bernard Harris is like many of us who grew up in the 1960s, with dreams and interests inspired by the space race and the Apollo 11 Moon landing. It was a little different for Harris, an African American who was 13 when Neil Armstrong took that one small step.

Dr. Bernard Harris, retired astronaut and
founder of the Harris Foundation, spoke
Feb. 4 at the Museum of Flight in Seattle.

“It was not only a giant leap for them, but for this little boy to look at that little back and white television and say that he wanted to follow in their footsteps was powerful, because for someone like me, it had never been done before,” Harris explained. “As I looked at who America chose as their right stuff, as you recall there were seven white guys that started that program. There were no minorities, certainly no African Americans, none that I could see out front, and there were no women in the program. Thank God things have changed since that time.”

Harris, who in 1995 became the first African American to walk in space, spoke Feb. 4 at the Museum of Flight in Seattle as part of the museum’s observation of Black History Month and in connection with its Michael P. Anderson Memorial Aerospace Program. Harris told the audience at the museum that he didn’t let the all-white nature of the early space program deter him.

“The lesson for the young folks is that if you have a dream, don’t let what you might see around you that you might think of as an obstacle,” he said. “I would say reverse it and think of it as a challenge. Don’t let that interfere with you accomplishing your dream.”

Harris is big on dreams. He has written a book titled Dream Walker, and he calls dreams the “reality of the future.”

“In order to have a future, you must have a dream,” Harris said. “In order to have a future you must have the ability to see yourself doing whatever it is that you want to do in life.”

Harris is not just a retired astronaut, he’s a scientist and a doctor and a businessman who heads a venture capital firm and established the Harris Foundation to support science, technology, engineering, and math education. Given that background, and the fact that the Anderson program also is focused on education, it wasn’t surprising to hear Harris build a close tie between dreams and education.

“Education is the way to fulfill dreams,” he said. “I see education as the value proposition for human achievement.”

Anderson was a Spokane native who died in 2003 when the space shuttle Columbia wrecked. Harris said astronauts know the danger they’re getting into, but carry on.

“At the heart of all of this is this notion that we would rather die doing what we want to do in life and accomplishing a dream than sit around and let life pass us by,” he said.

Harris gets a little agitated when he hears talk about the “end” of the space program.

“We still have the mandate as an agency to go forward; to put people on the Moon, to put people on near earth asteroids, and perhaps put people on Mars,” Harris said. “All of that work is still being done. The only significant change is that the next generation vehicle is going to be done by private industry.”

“The space program is not going away, it’s just beginning,” he added. “I think it’s going to allow us to do things that have not been done before, and we won’t be held hostage by government restraints and budgets.”

Bolden urges kids to hit the books, blaze new trails

NASA administrator Charlie Bolden was in Seattle last weekend to celebrate the legacy of one of America’s fallen astronauts, Spokane native Mike Anderson, who died in the shuttle Columbia tragedy eight years ago. Today the Museum of Flight is home to the Michael P. Anderson Memorial Aerospace Program, which gives underserved children of color from around the state the opportunity to participate in the museum’s educational programs. Saturday dozens of kids, their parents, and a big crowd of community members gathered at the Museum of Flight.

NASA administrator Charlie Bolden spoke during a Black History
Month program Feb. 5 at the Museum of Flight in Seattle. "It's one
of my great pleasures as NASA administrator to talk to young people
about my experiences and help them decide if a career in science,
technology, engineering, or math is for them," he said.
Photo: Ted Huetter, Museum of Flight.

“Each February NASA joins with the nation in recognizing National Black History Month,” Bolden said. “It’s a time to recognize the enormous contributions of African-Americans to our nation’s achievements. It’s also a moment to reflect on how far we have come as a nation. When I was a young man, my service as NASA’s first African-American administrator under the nation’s first black president would have been nearly unthinkable. Through the efforts of many people of all races, our nation has really changed. Thanks to the space shuttle program and NASA’s cross-disciplinary missions, African-Americans and many others have had access to space and also to science and technological careers.”

“I like to tell young people that I hope they will take the progress of previous generations, the example of people such as Mike Anderson, and make it their own,” Bolden added. “That they will blaze their own trails.”

Doug King, president and CEO of the Museum of Flight, said there’s never been a better time for education at NASA.

“No agency in the federal government has done more for education, and I include the Department of Education, than NASA,” King said. “Over the years NASA has contributed in so many ways at every level of education. Not just in inspiration, getting young people excited, but in research, in helping people step through careers into aerospace and so many other fields.”

Bolden told the gathering that’s a key part of the agency’s mission.

“President Obama challenges us to focus heavily on science and technology development to meet the country’s future needs,” he said. “At NASA we’re proud of our continuing investments in the future of the U.S. science and technology workforce, investments that will help us to win the future with more opportunities and more capabilities. If all of us here today follow the example of Mike Anderson and dedicate ourselves to strive for excellence in all that we do, we’ll ensure that President Obama’s goal to out-innovate, out-educate, and out-build every other nation in the world becomes reality, and will guarantee that we maintain technological leadership in the world.”

This statue of astronaut Mike Anderson is outside
the Museum of Flight in Seattle. Anderson died in the
Columbia tragedy, but his legacy lives on through
the Michael P. Anderson Memorial Aerospace
Program. Photo: Greg Scheiderer.

Bolden embraces the educational mission.

“It’s one of my great pleasures as NASA administrator to talk to young people about my experiences and help them decide if a career in science, technology, engineering, or math is for them,” he said. “Certainly we need more people pursuing those careers, and we need more minorities and women in those careers. Those groups are underrepresented in high-tech careers, even though there are countless examples, most especially at NASA, of women and minorities who have excelled and really made their mark in these fields.”

Several other African-American aerospace professionals joined with Bolden to talk about their paths to success. The panel included former Tuskegee Airman Ed Drummond; Lt. Col. Kimberly Scott, an Alaska Airlines pilot and U.S. Air Force Reserve C-17 pilot; Lt. Col. Rod Lewis, commander of the C-17 squadron at Joint Base Lewis-McChord; and Alaska Airlines Capt. Michael Swanigan. U.S. Air Force Deputy Inspector General Maj. Gen. Harold “Mitch” Mitchell moderated the panel. They all urged the assembled students to hit the books and listen to their teachers, but hinted, too, at a bit of the rebel spirit that helped each get where they are today.

Bolden wrapped up his remarks with a stirring assessment of where NASA is today.

“It’s a history making time, an era at its dawning, and I for one am very excited about where we’re headed,” Bolden said. He talked about a variety of upcoming NASA efforts, including the final space shuttle flights, the Messenger mission to Mercury, the Mars Science Laboratory, the Juno mission to Jupiter, Solar Probe Plus, various Earth science missions, and planning how to get to Mars. But clearly Bolden looks fondly on the shuttle program, for which he flew four missions.

“The shuttle was instrumental in breaking down the color barrier in space, and giving women and people of many nationalities opportunities to fly in space and see our planet the way everyone really should: as a peaceful, beautiful place with no borders except the ones that nature has provided,” Bolden said.