A journey....through space....

Welcome...from launch sites to love, heat shields to hearts....join me as 20+ year rocket scientist transitions to the world of romance novel writing.


Monday, April 5, 2010

Up up and away!

photo credit:  NASA

My doppleganger, Mission Specialist Stephanie Wilson, is onboard her third shuttle flight, STS-131, which launched on 5 April 2010.  I worked with her on the Galileo Mission to Jupiter in the 1990s.  She is the second black female to enter space, following Mae Jamison in the 1980s.







I'd hired on a few years before she did.  I was amused to learn that people were calling her by my name, since we looked similar.  The tables turned in 1996 when she was selected to become an astronaut; now people were calling ME "Stephanie".  It happened so often that one Halloween at work, I dressed up as her.  Stephanie laughed when I told her about it.

A few former Galileo coworkers had the chance to have dinner with her after STS-120, her first flight.  She said that she was so busy, she'd forget to look out the window.  One of the other specialists would point out "Hey, we're flying over Egypt".  I understand the sentiment; I don't always look out the window on a gorgeous Southern California day, either.

I was fortunate enough to be invited to the launch of STS-131, but had to decline when the launch slipped into the time where I would be on call for work. 

Good luck, Stephanie!