July 13, 2007

ASTRONAUT HAS STRONG LOCAL TIES
In position for space mission
By Monica Rodriguez, Staff Writer

In about three weeks, Tracy Caldwell will go on a trip the likes of which most people only dream of making.

Caldwell, 37, a former resident of Pomona and the San Gabriel Valley, will be one of seven astronauts who will climb aboard the space shuttle Endeavour Aug. 7 to begin an 11-day mission taking them to the International Space Station.

Even as a child of 5 or 6, Caldwell wanted to take to the sky, her mother, Mary Ellen Caldwell, recalled this week at her home in Beaumont.

The younger Caldwell and her family were in the Cajon Pass area one day when she saw the clouds and told her mother she wanted to walk on them.

Her mother explained it wasn't possible because if she tried she'd fall through.

"She said some day she'd find a way to walk across the clouds," her mother recalled.

Local ties

Caldwell's family had been living in Pomona for about two years when she was born Aug. 14, 1969, at Arcadia Methodist Hospital, Mary Ellen Caldwell said.

Around 1972, the Caldwells moved to El Monte and then in 1980 to

The family lived in Oklahoma about a year and a half before returning to Southern California and settling in Beaumont.

Caldwell, who due to NASA restrictions is not available for interviews, graduated from Beaumont High School in 1987.

As a child Caldwell was curious about the things around her.

"She was interested in things like why water looked blue when it was clear," her mother said. "She liked to figure out why things were the way they were."

Her interest in science really began developing in high school, and it was during her junior year that she began to look for career options.

Mary Ellen Caldwell said she and her husband Jim never told their daughters what they should do when it came to picking a career.

"We just told her and her sister they could be anything they wanted to be, and we believed that," she said.

Caldwell started working on a list that included journalist and veterinarian. Astronaut wasn't considered initially.

"She thought astronauts were very special people who had to have something extraordinary," her mother said.

The Challenger

Teacher Christa McAuliffe was a factor in Caldwell's decision to be an astronaut, her mother said.

Caldwell realized being extraordinary wasn't a requirement for the job. Commitment, dedication and desire were what counted, Mary Ellen Caldwell said.

McAuliffe, the top pick for the Teacher in Space program, never made it into space. She and the rest of her Challenger crew died Jan 28, 1986, after the craft exploded moments after launch.

The disaster didn't change Caldwell's plans. Instead she worked to become a suitable candidate for the astronaut corps. That meant improving on her math skills, something she wasn't as comfortable with as she was with science, her mother said.

"Perseverance was her middle name and determination still is," she said.

She also studied Spanish and American Sign Language.

Jim Caldwell made sure his daughters understood automobiles, their mother said.

As it turned out, Caldwell wasn't just good with tools, she was skilled enough to work on cars and motorcycles, her mother said. She even worked as an electrician in her father's business.

In high school and college Caldwell was also a track and field athlete.

She worked hard, had a positive attitude, participated in school activities and was always ready to help out, said Steve Perry, an English teacher at Beaumont High and an assistant track coach when Caldwell was a sprinter.

"I remember her just as a great kid who had a great attitude," Perry said. "She was the kind of high school student you'd like to have more of."

Caldwell went on to Cal State Fullerton where she continued to compete in track and field and earned a bachelor of science degree in chemistry. She went on to earn a doctorate in physical chemistry from UC Davis.

Along the way she also earned a pilot's license.

Astronaut seeds

Mary Ellen Caldwell said the seed that became the desire to be an astronaut could have been planted a month before Caldwell's birth.

Her mother watched television with the rest of the world as Apollo 11 headed for the moon on July 16, 1969, and four days later Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin became the first to walk on the moon.

If the moon landing was a spark, then her junior high school might have been another sign of what was to come.

Her junior high in Glendora bears the name of physicist Robert H. Goddard who did pioneering work involving the development of rockets and rocket fuel, according to NASA.

Caldwell was selected for astronaut training the summer of 1998 while she was doing post-doctorate chemistry research at UC Irvine.

At the time she recalled what it was like to receive a pair of silver wings, presented to those who completed the first year of astronaut training.

"My jaw dropped," Caldwell said in a 1999 interview. "I'm sure I was smiling from ear to ear."

At the time Caldwell was selected for astronaut training she was one of 25 chosen from a group of 2,500 applicants. At the time, a newspaper said, she was the youngest astronaut in the corps.

In the course of her work and training with NASA, Caldwell went to Russia where she worked to develop computer systems for the International Space Station, according to the space agency.

She has also done work at Mission Control on earlier shuttle missions.

Mary Ellen Caldwell said she can see her daughter going to the moon some day.

"Some would say I'm a cheerleader to return to the moon because I thought it would be perfect for her," she said.

Family and friends
will be watching

When the Endeavour is launched from Kennedy Space Center in Florida next month, a group of people will be there cheering for Caldwell, including her parents, other family members and friends traveling from across the United States.

Chino resident Julie Amancio, a friend of Caldwell's going back to their childhood when they both lived on Tampa Street in southern Pomona, was among those invited to witness the launch.

Amancio said she won't be able to attend but is happy her friend thought to invite her.

"I have this proud feeling," she said.

Although the two kept in touch and saw each other after the Caldwells left Pomona, Amancio said she was shocked when she learned of her friend's desire to be an astronaut when they were adults.

"She never actually talked about being an astronaut," she said.

As much as Amancio was surprised to learn the friend who had sung at her wedding was going to pursue a career as an astronaut, she was happy to hear Caldwell had earned a spot in the highly sought-after astronaut training program.

Mary Ellen Caldwell said she had a phone conversation with her daughter recently as she was preparing for the approaching launch.

"The only thing she was emphatic about was that she's not nervous. She said she was getting a little excited," her mother said.

That sense of excitement was tempered by the fact she and the other astronauts have much to do before the launch, and Caldwell has so many things outside of work to nail down - such as making arrangements for the care of her dog while she's away.

As the day gets closer there is more for the astronauts to do, Mary Ellen Caldwell said.

But her daughter may have a little time to get excited and reflect on what is about to happen. That will occur once she's strapped in her shuttle seat and begins a three-hour wait before the craft begins the process of taking off.