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The blue felt pennant that accompanied Melroy
has its own bit of history, having been taken by
two teams of Wellesley physics students conducting
experiments in zero-gravity environments as part of
a NASA program.
Three members of Wellesley's astronomy faculty,
Wendy Bauer, Richard French, and Jeff Regester,
traveled to Florida to watch Melroy's launch. Both
Bauer and French taught Melroy during her
undergraduate years. Alumnae in Florida and in
Melroy's hometown of Rochester, New York, gathered
for mini-reunions to watch the launch.
Wellesley students, faculty, and staff also
gathered on campus for a special viewing of the
launch when NASA gave the green light after . (For
up-to-the-minute launch information, visit:
www.nasa.gov.)
Melroy double-majored in physics and astronomy
at Wellesley and went on to earn a master's degree
in earth, atmospheric and planetary sciences from
MIT. A lieutenant colonel in the Air Force, she has
logged over 4,000 hours of flight time in more than
45 different aircraft. She was selected for the
astronaut program from a field of over 4,000
applicants to fill one of 20 openings in the
entering class in 1994.
Melroy
returned to her alma mater in 1998 to deliver the
commencement address. She spoke of her dream,
at age 11, to be an astronaut, and lauded the "help
toward our dreams Wellesley gives all of us. The
environment here gives women a place to dream
without being restricted or blinded by culturally
generated limits. . . . I look forward to seeing
our beautiful campus from space, and returning this
[pennant] afterwards, and to share the
story of my experience."
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