Alumna Finally Takes Off Aboard Space Shuttle Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence SM '88 Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence SM '88 trains for her Space Shuttle flight. MIT has had more alumni astronauts than any other non-military university in the country. Photo courtesy of NASA. Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence OE '88 finally made her fourth trip into space Tuesday, July 26, at 10:39 a.m. aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery, after the initial flight was scrubbed due to a mechanical problem with a fuel cutoff sensor. Lawrence and six other astronauts will evaluate new ways to inspect and ensure vehicle safety for future Shuttle flights and deliver supplies to the international space station during the 12-day mission, NASA's first since the Columbia tragedy more than two years ago. Previously, Lawrence flew into orbit in June 1998, September 1997, and March 1995, twice to the Mir Space Station. Two of her duties in this latest mission, dubbed Return to Flight, will be to help position the orbiter beneath the space station to allow Discovery's underside to be photographed and lead the transfer of equipment and supplies between the Shuttle and space station. Discovery will actually return to Earth with more cargo than it leaves with. A marathoner and triathlete, Lawrence attended the U.S. Naval Academy and earned a bachelor's degree in ocean engineering in 1981 and later a master's degree in the same field from MIT. She became a naval aviator in 1982, following a family tradition, and has since flown more than 1,500 hours in six different types of helicopters and has made more than 800 shipboard landings. She first joined NASA in 1992, when she underwent training to become a mission specialist. Lawrence said in a NASA interview that the Discovery crew plans to honor the fallen astronauts from the Shuttle Columbia during their time in space, although details were not given. As for the danger, Lawrence is no stranger to it. Her grandfather and father were both shot down in battle. Both were rescued but her father was a prisoner of war for six years in Vietnam. For her, the space program's benefits to the country outweigh the risks. "I'd like to see us move away from low-earth orbit and begin to explore the solar system, just like we've done for centuries exploring the Earth," she said in a NASA interview.
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