Yale Bulletin and Calendar

November 7, 2003|Volume 32, Number 10

Dr. Roberta Lynn BonderLt. Colonel Catherine G. Coleman

Women astronauts will talk
about their 'Place in Space'

Eight women astronauts will discuss their work both in space and back on earth at a series of events sponsored by the Tetelman Fellowship of Jonathan Edwards College.

"A Place in Space: A Celebration of Women Astronauts" will include three events, all of which are open to the public free of charge. They are:

* A panel discussion titled "Breaking the Glass Ceiling: Women Pioneers in Space" on Wednesday, Nov. 12, at 5:15 p.m. in the Law School's Levinson Auditorium, 127 Wall St. The panelists will include Dr. Anna Fisher, an active NASA astronaut; Slava Gerovitch, science historian at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Cathy Lewis, curator of Soviet Space Programs at the National Air and Space Museum, part of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C.; Valentina Ponomareva, former cosmonaut; and Dr. Rhea Seddon, former NASA astronaut. Two Yale faculty members will also serve as panelists: Bettyann Holtzmann Kevles, lecturer in history and author of the recently published book "Heaven: The Story of Women in Space," and Mark Saltzman, professor of chemical engineering.

* A master's tea titled "The Texture of Life: Living in Space" at 4 p.m. on Thursday, Nov. 13, in the Lower Taft Library of Jonathan Edwards College (enter at 68 High St.) The featured speakers will be Dr. Roberta Bondar, former Canadian Space Agency astronaut; and Lt. Colonel Catherine G. Coleman and Janet L. Kavandi, active NASA astronauts.

* A master's tea titled "The Russian Space Program," also on Thursday at 4 p.m. in the Silliman College master's house, 71 Wall St. Lewis and Ponomareva will be the featured speakers.

Brief profiles of the Tetelman Fellows follow:

Dr. Roberta Lynn Bonder is one of the six original Canadian astronauts selected in 1983. Bondar, a neurologist, was designated a prime payload specialist for the first International Microgravity Laboratory Mission and flew on STS-42 (Discovery, 1992), where she performed life science and material science experiments in the Spacelab and on the mid-deck.

Lt. Colonel Catherine G. Coleman is currently an active NASA astronaut at the Johnson Space Center. Coleman, who studied polymer science and engineering, has logged over 500 hours in space as a mission specialist on STS-73 (Columbia, 1995). Her missions included studies in materials science, biotechnology, combustion sciences and the physics of fluids, as well as experiments in the pressurized Spacelab module.

Dr. Anna L. FisherJanet L. Kavandi

Dr. Anna L. Fisher was a member of the first NASA class of women astronauts. Trained in x-ray crystallography and emergency medicine, Fisher assisted in the first shuttle launches and served as a mission specialist on STS-51A (Discovery, 1984), spending over 192 hours in space. She later served as chief of the Space Station Branch of the Astronaut Office, overseeing NASA's role in the International Space Station.

Janet L. Kavandi studied analytical chemistry and worked as an engineer before reporting in 1995 to the Johnson Space Center, where she remains an active NASA astronaut. She has logged over 33 days in space as mission specialist on STS-91 (1998), the final Shuttle-Mir docking mission, and aboard STS-99 (2000) and STS-104/ISS Assembly Flight 7A (2001), the latter being the 10th mission to the International Space Station.

Cathleen S. Lewis earned B.A. and M.A. degrees from Yale in 1980 and 1983, respectively. At the National Air and Space Museum, where she works in the Space History Division, she is an expert on the Russian and Soviet space programs and international cooperation in space. She has contributed to and edited several publications, including "Spaceflight: A Smithsonian Guide" and "Air and Space History: An Annotated Bibliography."

Valentina PonomarevaDr. Margaret R. Seddon

Valentina Ponomareva was selected by the Soviet space program as a candidate to be the first woman in space. She worked at the Division of Applied Mathematics at the Soviet Academy of Sciences before moving to the top-secret Star City in 1962. She was fully trained to enter space as a Vostok cosmonaut and was assigned as Valentina Terehkova's backup in 1963. She now works as staff head of the cosmonautics group at the Institute for the History of Science and Technology at the Academy of Sciences in Moscow.

Dr. Margaret R. Seddon became a NASA astronaut in 1979 with the first class of women astronauts. She has logged over 722 hours in space as a mission specialist on STS-51D (Discovery, 1985) and STS-40 (Columbia, 1991) and was the payload commander on STS-58 (Columbia, 1993). In space, she conducted numerous biomedical experiments, including some evaluating how humans respond to microgravity. She is now assistant chief medical officer of the Vanderbilt Medical Group in Nashville, Tennessee.

Information and updates about the "A Place in Space" programs are available online at www.yale.edu/je/tetelman or by calling the Jonathan Edwards master's office at (203) 432-0380.

The Tetelman Fellowship at Yale was endowed in 1979 by Damon Wells of the Class of 1958 in memory of his friend and classmate, Alan S. Tetelman '50, who died in an air crash in 1978. Tetelman, a metallurgist, was professor and chair of the Department of Materials at the University of California at Los Angeles. The Tetelman Fellowship brings to campus distinguished individuals who have made significant contributions to science, who deliver a lecture and meet informally with students and members of the faculty.

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