August 9, 2007

CSUF grad heads into space
As a child, Tracy Caldwell could only guess at the view 'up there.'
By PAT BRENNAN
THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER

When space shuttle Endeavour soared into space Wednesday, it took a bit of Orange County with it.

Some is in the heart and memories of Tracy Caldwell, 37, a Cal State Fullerton graduate who was doing atmospheric research at UC Irvine when she got the word in 1998: She'd been chosen by NASA for astronaut training.

"I bolted out the door and ran down the hall of the chemistry building, screaming, telling people, 'I made it! I made it!' " Caldwell recalled not long after she was chosen.

More of Orange County can be found in the shuttle's cargo bay: a 35,678-pound aluminum girder that will be attached to the International Space Station, about 220 miles above Earth. The girder was built at Boeing-Huntington Beach.

The $11 million, 11-foot-long piece of hardware will help connect the space station's power and cooling systems.

It is part of a mission to continue construction of the station. Other tasks include replacing a gyroscope important for maintaining the station's orientation in space, and delivering 5,000 pounds of cargo.

The big star of the flight, of course, is teacher-astronaut Barbara Morgan, who waited 20 years for the chance to fly aboard a shuttle. Morgan was the designated backup for teacher Christa McAuliffe. She watched in horror from a few miles away when the shuttle Challenger exploded just after takeoff in 1986, killing McAuliffe and the other six members of the crew.

Caldwell, something of a local star, also has vivid memories of McAuliffe and the Challenger flight. But when asked recently about it, she focused on the inspiration it brought her, instead of the tragedy.

The choice of McAuliffe for the flight "made me realize that not all astronauts were test pilots," said Caldwell, who was in junior high school at the time. "Some were teachers and scientists, and they had diverse backgrounds. … I thought, if the teacher was going into space, maybe I could, too."

She doesn't seem inclined to dwell on the dangers of spaceflight – which, she believes, is less dangerous than driving a car.

"You have to take the risks into consideration," she said. "But what you can give to this program, and what you get out of it, are much more important than the risks involved."

Other crewmembers include a Canadian doctor, a chemist who knows sign language and is a former competitive sprinter and long jumper, and a commander whose identical twin brother is also a shuttle pilot.

Caldwell, who speaks Spanish and Russian as well as being fluent in American Sign Language, will have a variety of duties as a mission specialist on Endeavour's 11-14 day flight.

She will videotape the ship's external fuel tank as it is jettisoned after launch, monitor sensors during docking maneuvers with the space station, and use the shuttle's robotic arm to inspect the craft for damage.

Caldwell obtained a bachelor's degree in chemistry at Cal State Fullerton in 1993 and a doctorate in physical chemistry from UC Davis in 1997. She was a postdoctoral researcher when she received her thrilling call to join the astronaut corps in 1998.

Caldwell had her eyes on the heavens at an early age. As a child, she said, she would lie on the ground and gaze at the night sky.

"When you look up, you see this immense light from stars everywhere," she said. "I thought to myself, 'If I can see this much from Earth, imagine what it would be like to look around from up there.' "

Even after she took up dirt biking in the Mojave Desert as a youngster, her thoughts often drifted back to space.

"I'd lie on the motorcycle trailer, look up and see the millions and millions of stars and wonder what it would be like to be up there."

Tracy Caldwell

Born: Arcadia, Aug. 14, 1969

Education: Bachelor of science in chemistry, Cal State Fullerton, 1993; doctorate in physical chemistry, UC Davis, 1997; postdoctoral research at UC Irvine, 1998

Role on Endeavour: Mission specialist, responsible for videotaping the jettisoning of external fuel tank after launch, monitoring sensors during docking with International Space Station, using shuttle's robotic arm to check for damage

The Associated Press contributed to this report.