Kathryn Sullivan
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CHAPTER ELEVEN NASA NASA LEFT: Kathryn Sullivan and Sally Ride flew on the first Space Shuttle mission to include two women in 1984. RIGHT: STS-31 Mission Specialist Kathryn Sullivan poses for a picture before beginning the procedure to put on the extravehicular mo- bility unit in the airlock of Discovery, Orbiter Vehicle 103. She became the first American woman to perform a spacewalk. KATHRYN SULLIVAN First American woman to perform a space walk OBJECTIVES n October 11, 1984, Kathryn Sullivan In addition to the 1984 Challenger took a 3 ½ hour walk and made his- mission, Sullivan flew on two other Space n Discuss Kathryn Sullivan’s tory. The walk was outside the Space Shuttle missions. As a mission specialist early life. O n Discuss some of her Shuttle Challenger, and she became the on STS-31 Discovery, in 1990 she helped accomplishments with NASA. first American woman to spacewalk. launch the Hubble Space Telescope. n Discuss some of her There, from a vantage point of about After leaving NASA in 1993, her career accomplishments outside of NASA. 140 miles above Earth, she had a highlights included serving as the tenth n Build the Hubble Telescope. spectacular view. “It is an intriguing and administrator of the National Oceanic and wonderful experience,” she told writer Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) from STANDARDS Diane Wedner of the Los Angeles Times in 2014 to 2017. NOAA, in the U.S. Depart- 1997. “The view is obviously great. The ment of Commerce, is the nation’s top NGSS experience lingers and grows for a long science agency for climate, oceans, and Science time after it’s over.” the atmosphere. n MS-ETS1-1 n MS-ETS1-3 Sullivan’s new perspective of being so She is a private pilot, rated in both n MS-ETS1-2 n MS-ETS1-4 far away from Earth was a big change powered and glider aircraft. ELA/Literacy from her previous scientific experiences, Sullivan has written a book on the Hub- n RST.6-8.3 n RST.6-8.9 which brought her close to the oceans she ble Space Telescope, Handprints on Hubble n RST.6-8.7 n WHST.6-8.9 could see from the shuttle – much closer. (2019), which recalls her experience as In fact, she was an oceanographer and part of the team that launched, rescued, NCSS participated in several oceanographic repaired, and maintained the telescope. n III.b. n V.c. expeditions that studied the floors of the n IV.f. n X.e. Atlantic and Pacific oceans. — PAGE 103 — HER STORY Kathryn D. Sullivan was born Oc- While at Dalhousie, she par- tober 3, 1951, in Paterson, New Jersey, ticipated in several oceanographic but she considers Woodland Hills, expeditions under the auspices of the California, to be her hometown. She is U.S. Geological Survey and other orga- the daughter of Donald P. Sullivan and nizations. The research included the Barbara K. Sullivan. She told the Los Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the Newfoundland Angeles Times that her exposure to her Basin, and fault zones off the South- NASA Astronaut Kathryn Sullivan gets help father’s engineering job at Lockheed ern California coast. with her suit prior to an underwater Corp. sparked her interest in space. As Sullivan credits a requirement to simulation of an EVA. a first-grader at Hayvenhurst Elemen- take courses out of her major (lan- tary in Encino, she was classmates guages) at UC Santa Cruz for inspir- with Sally Ride, the first U.S. woman ing her interest in ocean sciences. It [spacewalking] in space. In 1978, she was one of the first is an intriguing and As a girl, Sullivan liked exploring six women chosen to be Space Shuttle “ the area around her town. “Growing astronauts. After joining NASA, Sulli- wonderful experi- up here … it was semirural,” she told van’s research interests were focused ence. The view is the LA Times. In 1969, she graduated on remote sensing. She qualified from Taft High School in Woodland as a systems-engineer operator in obviously great. The Hills. She went on to the University of NASA’s WB-57F high-altitude research California, Santa Cruz, and graduated aircraft in 1978 and participated in experience lingers with a bachelor of science degree in several remote sensing projects in and grows for a long Earth sciences in 1973 and a doctor- Alaska. ate in geology from Dalhousie Univer- time after it’s over. sity in Nova Scotia in 1978. Continued on PAGE 105 — Kathryn Sullivan” Achievements include n Qualified as a Systems Engineer n Received the American Institute n Inducted into the Women in Operator in the NASA WB-57F of Aeronautics and Astronautics Aviation International Pioneer Hall high-altitude research aircraft Haley Space Flight Award (1991) of Fame (2010) (1978) n Received a presidential appoint- n Served as acting administrator of n Was the third American woman in ment as chief scientist at the NOAA (2013) space and first American woman National Oceanic and Atmospheric n Confirmed by U.S. Senate as Under to walk in space (EVA) (1984) Administration (NOAA) (1993) Secretary of Commerce for oceans n Inducted into International Space n Inducted into the Ohio Women’s and atmosphere; the 10th admin- Hall of Fame (1985) Hall of fame (2002) istrator of NOAA (2014) n Completed three Space Shuttle n Received the Public Service Award, n Recognized by Time Magazine missions, STS-41G, STS-31 and National Science Board (2003) as one of 46 distinguished First STS-45 (1984-1992) n Served on the National Science Women (2017) n Received multiple NASA Medals of Board (2004-2010) n Named National Air and Space recognition (1984-1992) n Inducted into Astronaut Hall of Museum Charles A. Lindbergh n Served as an oceanographer U.S. Fame (2004) Chair of Aerospace History (2017) Navy Reserve Officer (1988-2006) n Received the Aviation Week & n Helped launch the Hubble Space Space Technology Aerospace Telescope on Space Shuttle STS- Legend Award (2005) 31 (1990) — PAGE 103 — — PAGE 104 — her Story (continued from Page 104) Sullivan flew on three shuttle STS-41G. Her third and final mission “impressive background as a scientist missions during her 15-year tenure was Atlantis STS-45 in 1992, during and astronaut” and her “team-build- logging 532 hours in space. Her which the crew completed climate and ing skills” among her many qualifica- first mission was in 1984, STS-41G atmosphere studies using ATLAS-1 tions. Challenger. The mission, the first to cargo, an acronym for Atmospheric Team-building and trust were include two women (Sally Ride and Laboratory for Applications and especially important traits for astro- Sullivan), also made Sullivan the first Science. nauts training and performing mis- American woman to walk in space. She retired from NASA in 1993 and sions. Sullivan and fellow astronaut David was appointed the National Oceanic She was asked by the Smithson- Leestma conducted a 3 ½ hour Extra- and Atmospheric Administration’s ian Institution’s Rubenstein if she vehicular Activity (EVA) to test whether (NOAA) chief scientist. She was in had to pretend that she thought the satellites could be refueled in orbit. charge of research and technology in men were better than the women in “That sounds like a trivial thing,” a variety of areas including fisher- astronaut training or if she thought she told the Smithsonian Institution’s ies biology, climate change, satellite that actually, the women were better David Rubenstein in an interview for instrumentation, and marine biodiver- than the men. Her response was it was the American Academy of Arts and sity. She served as CEO of the Center neither. Sciences, “but the loss of fuel in a of Science and Industry in Ohio, one of “I knew we each had to hold satellite is often what ends the life of the leading science museums in the our own. I need each of my crew- a satellite.” U.S. mates – male, female, black, green, Her next Space Shuttle mission From March 2014 until January or otherwise – to know their stuff, to was STS-31 Discovery (1990) that 2017 she was the under secretary of be completely competent, and hold deployed the Hubble Space Telescope, commerce for oceans and atmosphere their ground when things get crazy or and she was the co-investigator on and administrator of NOAA. squirrely or scary. And they need to be the Shuttle Imaging Radar-B (SIR-B) Announcing her appointment, a able to trust me, as well.” experiment, which she flew on Mission White House administrator noted her QUICK BOX Snacks in Space Astronaut Kathryn Sullivan described how astronauts eat in the microgravity environment, or the condition in which people or objects appear to be weightless. This excerpt from a 2017 conversation with the Smithsonian’s David M. Rubenstein details what snack time aboard the shuttle was like. “Up here you are your own clean-up crew, of course, so if you lose an M&M, if it wanders off somewhere, it is important that you know how the airflow circulates through the vehicle and where the dead spots are, because the stray M&Ms and lost socks and other things will be right there in about a half a day, and you can go scavenge them. If you think M&Ms are fun, Pepperidge Farm goldfish will display schooling behavior in this environment. “Another very fun thing is how quickly people change their vocabulary. If you wanted me to give you a hand control or remote, in short order you would find you had ceased saying, ‘Would you please pass me the remote?’ or “Please pass me the M&Ms?” Instead you would say, ‘Would you please send me …,’ and you just give the object a little shove and it cruises across the cabin.” — PAGE 105 — references 1.