Astronaut Heidi Stefanyshyn-Piper eagerly awaits flight assignment (06/21/98)

Astronaut Heidi Stefanyshyn-Piper eagerly awaits flight assignment

by Olenka Welhasch

PARSIPPANY, N.J. - When asked what they aspire to do in the future, few 36-year-old women reply "I want to do a space walk." Heide Stefanyshyn-Piper, however, is an exception to the rule. In April, Ms. Stefanyshyn-Piper completed two years of training and evaluation at the Johnson Space Center in Houston and is now officially a NASA astronaut.

Ms. Stefanyshyn-Piper currently serves as a member of the Astronaut Support Personnel Team at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, where she supports space shuttle launches, landings and testing. As a member of the space launch close-out crew, she is responsible for strapping in the crew members and is the last person to exit the space shuttle prior to liftoff.

Ms. Stefanyshyn-Piper eagerly awaits a flight assignment, and hopes to complete a space walk with a division of the EVA (Extra Vehicular Activities) at the International Space Station, a new orbiting space station that is being funded by the U.S. and built by Russia. The space station will be receiving its first astronauts in the summer of 1999.

Since Neil Armstrong first set foot on the moon, Ms. Stefanyshyn-Piper has been fascinated with the prospect of space exploration. Initially, however, she did not have plans to become an astronaut. In order to fund her college education at Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where she earned her B.S. and M.S. in mechanical engineering, she joined the Naval ROTC in the hopes of becoming a jet pilot.

A failed eye exam prevented her dreams from coming to fruition and led to a career holding various posts in Navy salvage and diving operations. During her nine years working for the U.S. Navy, Ms. Stefanyshyn-Piper received many service medals.

Ms. Stefanyshyn-Piper's childhood dreams of flying, and even more importantly, of exploring outer space, were realized in April 1996 when she was chosen as an astronaut candidate by NASA.

Behind Ms. Stefanyshyn-Piper's remarkable professional and educational accomplishments, lies a rich cultural background. Ms. Stefanyshyn-Piper was born and raised in St. Paul, Minn., where she belonged to St. Constantine Ukrainian Catholic Church. She was a member of Plast and a local Ukrainian dance ensemble.

In addition to her involvement in the Minneapolis Ukrainian community, Ms. Stefanyshyn-Piper cultivated her German roots as her mother, Adelheid, was a German immigrant. Thus, she has spoken both Ukrainian and German fluently since childhood. Her father, Michael, now deceased, is of Ukrainian heritage. Ms. Stefanyshyn-Piper resides in Houston Texas with her husband, Glen, and their son.