Returning to Space with Pride – Wendy B. Lawrence

The first day of February 2003 was one of the worst in the history of NASA and space exploration as a whole. As the Space Shuttle Columbia re-entered the Earth’s atmosphere, after over two weeks in space, damage to the orbiter’s left wing sustained during takeoff allowed gases to penetrate the heat shield, causing the spacecraft to break apart. All seven crew members were lost. 

As a result of the disaster, Shuttle flights were halted for nearly two and a half years as a thorough investigation took place. When it was time to ‘return to flight’, seven astronauts boarded the Space Shuttle Discovery with the world watching. One of these seven astronauts was Wendy B. Lawrence. 

Experienced Flyer

A distinguished flight school graduate, Lawrence accumulated over 1,500 flight hours in over a decade in the U.S. Navy, along with more than 800 shipboard landings. Indeed, she was one of the first two female helicopter pilots to make a long deployment to the Indian Ocean. It was this experience that proved key to being selected by NASA in 1992 for astronaut training and she reported to Johnson Space Center that year. 

Lawrence got her first taste of space in 1995, as a mission specialist on STS-67 – a spaceflight using Space Shuttle Endeavour. This was the second flight of NASA’s ASTRO spacelab and during the sixteen-day mission the crew worked around the clock to study the distant ultraviolet spectra of distant astronomical objects, as well as the polarisation of UV light from galaxies and hot stars. This information could tell scientists about the orientations of the received light waves. Following this first flight, Lawrence became Director of Operations for NASA at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia. It was Lawrence’s responsibility to coordinate and implement mission operations for the joint Space Shuttle-Mir program. 

Her extensive experience with the Mir Space Station’s systems and crew transfer logistics made Lawrence a prime astronaut candidate for several flights around the time. Originally earmarked for a mission at the end of 1996 (she was replaced over concerns she would be too short for the Russian Orlan EVA spacesuit), Lawrence made her second space trip the following year as part of the same STS-86 crew as British-born astronaut Michael Foale. A third spaceflight followed several months later in a mission that concluded the joint U.S./Russian Phase I, a programme that Lawrence had worked extensively on and given several years of her life to. 

The Most Critical of Missions

Given the trust built by Lawrence over her 10+ years with NASA, it was little surprise that she was called upon to take part in arguably the space administration’s most important mission since the aftermath of the Columbia disaster. NASA knew another catastrophe would likely end human space exploration for good.

The team of seven entrusted to deliver a successful return to flight with mission STS-114, led by the Space Shuttle’s first female pilot and commander Eileen Collins, took their seats on 26 July 2005. A successful takeoff followed, although footage of the launch showed debris separating from the external tank, the same issue that had started the fatal events of Columbia. Luckily Lawrence and the team were fine, but a further year was taken following the mission to ensure it would never happen again. 

The STS-114 team’s main mission goal was to test the new flight safety techniques introduced following Columbia, but each crew member had their own tasks too. As a mission specialist Lawrence oversaw the transfer of supplies and equipment to the International Space Station (ISS), and was the controller of the ISS’s robotic arm. The crew returned to Earth on 9 August, much to the relief of NASA, and the following year Lawrence retired from the organisation after clocking over 1,200 hours in space.  

Inspiring Others

In 2019 Lawrence was recognised with the U.S. Naval Academy Distinguished Graduate Award, following in the footsteps of her father who received the award nearly two decades earlier. It was at this prestigious event that Lawrence disclosed for the first time she was married to NASA scientist Cathy Watson, making Lawrence the first openly LGBTQ+ former astronaut.

Although the first American woman in space, Sally Ride, was revealed to have been a member of the LGBTQ+ community, it wasn’t until after her death that it was expressed openly in her obituary. Lawrence chose to wait until she had been retired several years, whilst a third astronaut, Anne McClain, was in space when her LGBTQ+ status was reported in the media due to a dispute with her ex-wife.

It’s probable that more former and current astronauts belong to the LGBTQ+ community but the fact that only the ‘L’ part has so far been represented and none have come out as such by choice as an active astronaut shows there’s still a long way to go when it comes to the community’s representation in space.

Hopefully figures such as Wendy B. Lawrence, and how she was part of restoring the public’s confidence in space travel, will give hope and pride to everyone in the years to come.