Was first female to graduate from U.S. Naval Academy and fly into space
WATCH: The Friday Night Locker Room’s Steve Wilson recently had the opportunity to sit down and talk with former NASA astronaut, Captain Wendy Lawrence (Ret), USN, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. What an amazing conversation it was! Not only is she a retired Navy officer, and a former astronaut, but she is the first female to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy and fly into space.
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA – I recently had the opportunity to sit down and talk with former NASA astronaut, Captain Wendy Lawrence (Ret), USN, at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. What an amazing conversation it was! Not only is she a retired Navy officer, and former astronaut, but she is the first female to graduate from the U.S. Naval Academy and fly into space.
Our conversation lasted only 13 minutes, but I could have talked with her for hours. She was that interesting!
I asked Captain Lawrence when she first decided that she wanted to be an astronaut. She told me it was July 1969, during the Apollo 11 mission, which was man’s first-time landing on the moon. Lawrence told me, “If you ask me what is was about watching Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin, I will honestly tell you, I don’t know, but that’s the day the dream began.”
A veteran of four space shuttle missions, the one the public may remember most is STS-114, The Return to Flight mission. It was the first flight after the Columbia tragedy on February 1, 2003.
I could tell while talking with Lawrence how important that mission was to her. She told me, “Collectively as a crew, our mindset was, we want to conduct ourselves and the mission in such a way that we are continuing the legacy of the (STS) 107 crew, because everyone on that crew felt very, very strongly that it’s important for humans to be in space, to push the boundaries, to push ourselves to do what’s hard and difficult and complicated, because it benefits all of us back here on planet earth.” She continued, saying, “More than anything our mindset was, we are going to honor this crew by doing the mission to the best of our ability.”
Today she spends a lot of her time at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex as “Astronaut of the Day.” This allows her to talk and interact with visitors about her experiences. By the smile on her face, I can easily tell she enjoys this.
As I mentioned above, I could have talked with Lawrence for much longer than 13 minutes. And, instead of this short article, I could write a book about her experiences! She is one amazing woman that has accomplished so much in her lifetime. It was an honor for me to sit down and talk with former astronaut, Captain Wendy Lawrence, USN (Ret).
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Steve Wilson was born in DeRidder, Louisiana and grew up in both New Orleans and Macon, Georgia. He moved to Brevard County in 1984 and retired from local government as the Community Advocate/Assistant to the City Manager with the City of Rockledge in 2018.
Among the awards and accolades Steve has received over the years are 15 + year Rockledge Little League volunteer, Brevard Public School Jefferson Award Recipient, Rockledge High School Raider Booster Award 2001, 2006, City of Rockledge Employee of the Year 2006, Rockledge Kiwanian of the Year 2006-2007, City of Rockledge Quality Public Service Award 2008, 2012, 2017, Rockledge Kiwanis Citizen of the Year 2012-2013, Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame – Sportscasting 2015, Rockledge High School Leadership and Service Award 2016, Central Florida Humanitarian Award 2017, Space Coast Inspiration Award – 2018, Space Coast Sports Hall of Fame – Lifetime Achievement – 2020, Ecofest Achievement Award – 2022, Quality Floridian Award – 2022, presented by U.S. Congressman Bill Posey.
Wilson is especially proud of his chairing two fundraisers in support of pediatric cancer research through the St. Baldrick’s Foundation in honor of Merritt Island resident Julie Spurlock that raised over $25,000.00.
He has been a partner, along with Orville Susong, for the past 24 years with the Friday Night Locker Room, a broadcasting team that covers and reports on a wide variety of local events that are of significance to the residents of the Space Coast and beyond. Their mission is to promote youth sports, support first responders and law enforcement personnel, and showcase community and charitable events that are produced by our nonprofit partners in central Florida.
The Friday Night Locker Room has awarded hundreds of sports achievement plaques to Brevard County student-athletes over the years. They have also awarded more than $18,000 in academic scholarships to Brevard County high school seniors.
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