""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" November 8, 1995 - Episode 467 - Women of Achievement and Herstory compiled by Irene Stuber """""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""" Wasn't it sweeeeet -- According to news reports, astronaut Catherine Coleman shook a bag containing candy to show that everything weighs the same in space in a televised science hookup from the orbiting Columbia spacecraft to earth-bound students - while other astronauts such as Al Sacco could concentrate on crystals and "hard" science. The news media also reported Coleman fielded kitchen/cooking questions about what happens re domesticity in space. Dr. /Captain Coleman's official NASA biography (as of 1/95) reads as follows: Catherine G. "Cady" Coleman, Ph.D. (Captain, USAF); NASA Astronaut; Born December 14, 1960, in Charleston, South Carolina. Brown hair; brown eyes; 5 feet 4 inches; 115 pounds. EDUCATION: received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1983 and a doctorate in polymer science and engineering from the University of Massachusetts in 1991. Single, she enjoys flying, scuba diving, sports, music. As an undergraduate she competed in intercollegiate athletics on MIT's crew team. Dr. Coleman was commissioned as a 2nd lieutenant in the Air Force in 1983 and began graduate work at the University of Massachusetts. Her research focused on polymer synthesis, using the olefin metathesis reaction and polymer surface modification. In 1988 Coleman entered active duty and was assigned to Wright-Patterson Air Force Base. As a research chemist at the Materials Directorate of the Wright Laboratory, she synthesized model compounds to investigate the use of organic polymers for third-order nonlinear optical applications such as advanced computers and data storage. Coleman also acted as a surface analysis consultant for the Long Duration Exposure Facility (launched from STS 41-C in 1984 and retrieved during STS-32 in 1990). In addition to assigned duties, Coleman was a volunteer test subject for the centrifuge program at the Crew Systems Directorate of the Armstrong Aeromedical Laboratory. She set several endurance and tolerance records during her participation in physiological and new equipment studies. NASA EXPERIENCE: Coleman was selected by NASA in March 1992 and reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1992. Initially assigned to the Astronaut Office Mission Support Branch and detailed to flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory, Coleman presently serves as a special assistant to the Center Director, Johnson Space Center. CURRENT ASSIGNMENT: Coleman is assigned as a mission specialist on STS-73, the second United States Microgravity Laboratory mission (USML-2), aboard Space Shuttle Columbia now in orbit. The 16-day mission is focusing on materials science, biotechnology, combustion science, the physics of fluids and many other scientific experiments to be housed in the pressurized Spacelab module. 11-08 Anniversaries ........................................... B. 11-08-1897, Dorothy Day helped found the Catholic Worker movement and organized houses for the handicapped and hungry. Had been a socialist. During the Viet Nam conflict she supported and aided those who refused military service. B. 11-08-1900, Margaret Mitchell, winner of 1937 Pulitzer Prize for _Gone with the Wind_, her only novel. Sold rights to _Gone With the Wind_ to David Selznick for $50,000. The film was one of the highest money grossers of all time until the price of movie tickets skyrocketed. B. 11-08-1907, Katherine Hepburn, actor, winner of four Academy Awards, an American treasure. Event: 11-08-1910: a constitutional amendment to extend suffrage to women is passed in the State of Washington. E. 11-08-1938: Crystal Bird Fauset elected to the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, the first US black woman legislator. Event 11-08-1984: physician Dr. Anna L. Fisher is the third American woman astronaut in space and the first mother. Quotes du jour ................................................ "Despite my 30 years of research into the feminine soul, I have not yet been able to answer. . . the great question that has never been answered; What does a woman want?" --Sigmund Freud; quoted by Dr. Ernest Jones, the Life and Works of Sigmund Freud, vol.2. (Question: Did he EVER ask that question of women who weren't already driven insane/mad/neurotic/psychotic by the restrictions on their lives under the strict patriarchal society of Freud's time?) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- >>(C) 1995, All Rights Reserved, Irene Stuber, PO Box 6185, Hot Springs National Park, AR 71902, voice mail or fax, 501-624-5262 ID #300, or email irenestuber@delphi.com with comments and suggestions. Distribute verbatim copies freely with copyright notice for non-profit use. We are accepting *limited* donations (only what can be spared) to help offset the online costs of posting WOA.<<