August 14, 2007

Happy Birthday!
Living her dream in space

We don't generally use this space for birthday wishes. But then, most celebrants don't spend their special day circling the Earth 200 miles over our heads.

That's how Beaumont High School graduate Tracy Caldwell is observing her birthday. The astronaut with many Inland Empire ties blasted off with the rest of the Endeavour crew on Wednesday and reached the international space station Friday.

Caldwell was born to a Pomona family 39 years ago today. Her family eventually settled in Beaumont, where Tracy ran on the track team and became more and more interested in science. She graduated from Cal State Fullerton and then earned a doctorate in physical chemistry from UC Davis, getting a pilot's license along the way.

Her mother, director of a day-care center in Beaumont, recalled that when Tracy was about 5, she told her mother that someday she would find a way to walk across the clouds.

She has made her own dream come true through hard work and determination, in the process becoming a model for young astronauts-to-be with big dreams.

Happy birthday, Astronaut Caldwell. We wish we were there.