thrilling 'Perfect job'

(By Michelle Spitzer, USA TODAY)
CAPE CANAVERAL — About seven years ago, Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger was teaching a high school astronomy class in Washington state when a student asked her, "How do you go to the bathroom in space?"
A little embarrassed by the topic and unable to answer the question, she went home and Googled it.
While on NASA's website, Metcalf-Lindenburger stumbled on something else: an application for the Educator Astronaut program, which turns teachers into fully trained astronauts. The program was created in 2003 as a successor to the Teacher in Space effort that began and ended with Christa McAuliffe's death aboard space shuttle Challenger in 1986.
"I told my husband this is the perfect job," Metcalf-Lindenburger said. "Then more reality set in: I was like, 'There's going to be a lot of really qualified people, and for sure I'm not going to be selected.' "
But she was.
Now the former astronomy and earth science teacher is a full-fledged astronaut preparing for her first flight. Metcalf-Lindenburger is among seven astronauts who will be strapped into space shuttle Discovery for the launch scheduled for Monday morning.
The 13-day mission will deliver science racks and supplies and equipment to the International Space Station. It's the first of four remaining station-outfitting missions before the shuttle fleet's scheduled retirement in September.
"I'm really excited about what this mission is going to be, and I'll try to savor every moment," said Metcalf-Lindenburger, a married mother of a 3-year-old daughter.
Space Camp to space
At 34, Metcalf-Lindenburger is the youngest active astronaut. She became interested in NASA early.
When she was about 14, she won second place in an essay contest, which earned her a "cool T-shirt from NASA," but not the winning prize of a free trip to Space Camp. Metcalf-Lindenburger's parents paid for her to go anyway.
"My parents knew I really liked space and that I was really interested in the astronaut program, so (they) sent me," she said. "I took away from that I wanted to work at NASA one day."
She went on to get a bachelor's in geology from Whitman College in Washington state. After that, she started teaching at a high school in Vancouver, Wash.
She had been teaching for only about four years when she applied to be an Educator Astronaut. In 2004, less than a year after applying, she got a call from Robert Cabana, who was chief of the Astronaut Office at the time and is the current Kennedy Space Center director.
"I said, 'I know who you are, and this is probably not a good call. Can we talk later because I'm teaching, and I don't want to start crying in front of my class,' " said Metcalf-Lindenburger, who had nearly convinced herself that she didn't have a chance. "He said, 'Oh, no, no. It's not that type of call. I want to hire you.' I just started jumping up and down and started screaming in his ear."
Metcalf-Lindenburger's astronaut class was made up mostly of former engineers and scientists.
"Sometimes I would look around and be in awe of the people I was working with because of the experience they had," she said. "I also thought it was an opportunity to learn from them and raise my bar and to do as well as I could with my classmates."
Asset to the team
Discovery crewmate Stephanie Wilson said Metcalf-Lindenburger's desire to learn is an asset to the team. One of Metcalf-Lindenburger's extracurricular activities — she's a marathon runner — also helps.
"I think (she) probably has the most endurance of all of us on the crew," said Wilson, 43. "So when we're maybe ready to call it quits, she's still ready to go. It's great to see her energy, and her ability to really focus on a task and to see it through from beginning to end, and I think that that is one of her strengths."
While in space, Metcalf-Lindenburger will record a video to help promote robotics, science and engineering — something she's been doing for years as an educator. She regularly used NASA-related material in the classroom and even spent time talking to her Washington students about Don Pettit, an astronaut from nearby Oregon, who spent more than 160 days in orbit.
"I wanted them to see that someone from their own backyard had gone on to pursue his interests and dreams," she said.
Now it's Metcalf-Lindenburger's turn to be an inspiration for students.
"When this big of a dream comes true, it's unreal," she said.