{{Use mdy dates|date=November 2021}} {{Short description|American astronaut and Navy captain (born 1959)}} {{BLP sources|date=November 2012}} {{Infobox astronaut |name = Wendy Lawrence |image = Wendy Lawrence NASA STS114.jpg |type = NASA astronaut |birth_name = Wendy Barrien Lawrence |birth_date = {{birth date and age|1959|7|2}} |birth_place = Jacksonville, Florida, U.S. |death_date = |death_place = |relatives = William P. Lawrence (father)<br>Fatty Lawrence (grandfather) |education = United States Naval Academy (BS)<br>Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MS) |rank = Captain, USN (ret.) |selection = NASA Group 14 (1992) |time = 51d 3h 56m |missions = STS-67<br>STS-86<br>STS-91<br>STS-114 |insignia = 30px 30px 30px 45px }} '''Wendy Barrien Lawrence''' (born July 2, 1959) is a retired United States Navy Captain, an engineer, and former helicopter pilot and NASA astronaut. She was the first female graduate of the United States Naval Academy to fly into space and she has also visited the Russian Space Station Mir. She was a mission specialist on STS-114, the first Space Shuttle flight after the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster. She is married to Cathy Watson, a former NASA scientist.<ref>[https://www.usna.com/events-and-programs---dga19-bio-lawrence Events and Programs – DGA19 Bio Lawrence], at the US Naval Academy Alumni Association and Foundation; published 2019; retrieved June 29, 2024; "She lives in Ferndale, WA with her spouse, Cathy Watson".</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|last=Cavallaro|first=Umberto|chapter=Wendy Lawrence: The First Woman Astronaut of the US Navy |chapter-url=https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-34048-7_29|title=Women Spacefarers: Sixty Different Paths to Space|publisher=Springer International Publishing|year=2017|isbn=978-3-319-34047-0|pages=192–197|doi=10.1007/978-3-319-34048-7_29}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|last=Torres|first=Catherine|date=December 1, 2016|title=Wonder Woman – Cathy Watson|work=Bellingham Alive!|url=https://northsoundlife.com/|access-date=October 8, 2021|archive-date=November 27, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127023554/https://northsoundlife.com/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Early life == Lawrence was born in Jacksonville, Florida. She is the daughter and the granddaughter of naval aviators; her grandfather was noted student-athlete Fatty Lawrence and her father was the late Vice Admiral William P. Lawrence, a Project Mercury astronaut finalist and a former Vietnam prisoner of war who was Superintendent of the U.S. Naval Academy and the namesake of the destroyer {{USS|William P. Lawrence|DDG-110}}.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite news|last=Thompson|first=Neal|date=March 7, 1999|title=A Hero & A Father; William Lawrence faces adversity still. But he does it with the support of a daughter who fulfilled his dream as well as her own.; Bill Lawrence's Epic Journey|work=The Baltimore Sun|url=https://www.baltimoresun.com/|access-date=October 8, 2021}}</ref>
== Education == Lawrence graduated from Fort Hunt High School in Alexandria, Virginia in 1977.<ref name="bio">{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=August 2006|title=Biographical Data|url=https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/lawrence_wendy_0.pdf|archive-url=|archive-date=|access-date=|website=NASA}}</ref> She went on to attend the U.S. Naval Academy, graduating in 1981 with a Bachelor of Science in ocean engineering.<ref name=bio /> She later earned a Master of Science in ocean engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution in 1988, as part of a joint program between the two schools.<ref name=bio /><ref>[http://alumni.whoi.edu/node/2263 Lawrence, Wendy | MIT WHOI Joint Program Alumni Community] ''Association of the Alumni/Alumnae of the MIT/WHOI Joint Program''. Retrieved July 12, 2011.</ref>
== Organizations == * Lawrence Heights Middle School * Phi Kappa Phi * Association of Naval Aviation * Women Military Aviators * Naval Helicopter Association * The Mars Generation
== Military career == {{BLP sources section|date=February 2012}} Lawrence graduated from the U.S. Naval Academy in 1981. A distinguished flight school graduate, she was designated as a Naval Aviator in July 1982. Lawrence has more than 1,500 hours of flight time in six different types of helicopters and has made more than 800 shipboard landings.<ref name="bio" /> While assigned to Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 6 (HC-6), she was one of the first two female helicopter pilots to make a long deployment to the Indian Ocean as part of a carrier battle group. After completion of a master's degree program at MIT and Woods Hole in 1988, she was assigned to Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 30 (HSL-30) as Officer-in-charge of Detachment Alpha. In October 1990, Lawrence reported to the U.S. Naval Academy where she served as a physics instructor and the novice women's crew coach.
== NASA career == thumb|Captain Lawrence inspects Space Shuttle tiles (Oct 2003)
Selected by NASA in March 1992, Lawrence reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1992. She completed one year of training and was qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. Her technical assignments within the Astronaut Office have included flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), Astronaut Office Assistant Training Officer, and Astronaut Office representative for Space Station training and crew support. She flew as the ascent/entry flight engineer and blue shift orbit pilot on STS-67 (March 2–18, 1995). She next served as Director of Operations for NASA at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia, with responsibility for the coordination and implementation of mission operations activities in the Moscow region for the joint U.S./Russian Shuttle/Mir program. In September 1996 she began training as a crew member for a 4-month mission on the Russian Space Station Mir. However, she was replaced by David Wolf due to concerns over minimum size requirements for the Russian Orlan EVA suit. Because of her knowledge and experience with Mir systems and with crew transfer logistics for the Mir, she flew on STS-86 (September 25 to October 6, 1997) and STS-91 (June 2–12, 1998). A veteran of four space flights, she logged over 1,200 hours in space. Lawrence was a mission specialist on the crew of STS-114. She was in charge of the transfer of supplies and equipment and operated the Space Station robotic arm on the Return To Flight mission during which the crew tested and evaluated new procedures for the inspection and repair of the Space Shuttle thermal protection system. The mission launched on July 26, 2005, and landed on August 9, 2005.<ref name="bio" /><ref>[http://www.astronautix.com/astros/lawrence.htm Encyclopedia Astronautica: Lawrence] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050308125541/http://www.astronautix.com/astros/lawrence.htm |date=March 8, 2005 }}</ref><ref>[http://www.usna.edu/Admissions/history/1990.htm A Brief History of the United States Naval Academy-1990s<!-- Bot generated title -->] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050211211034/http://www.usna.edu/Admissions/history/1990.htm |date=February 11, 2005 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/preparingtravel/wendy_lawrence_profile.html|title=NASA – STS-114 Mission Specialist Wendy Lawrence: 'Hanging 10' for Shuttle Countdown|first=Mark Garcia|last=(JSC)|website=www.nasa.gov|access-date=August 7, 2005|archive-date=October 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221012175516/https://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/preparingtravel/wendy_lawrence_profile.html|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.spacefacts.de/bios/astronauts/english/lawrence_wendy.htm|title=Astronaut Biography: Wendy Lawrence|first=Joachim|last=Becker|website=www.spacefacts.de}}</ref><ref>NASA [http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/preparingtravel/rtf_interview_lawrence.html Interview] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211127024922/https://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/preparingtravel/rtf_interview_lawrence.html |date=November 27, 2021 }} with Captain Lawrence (February 23, 2005)</ref> Captain Lawrence retired from NASA in June 2006.
=== Spaceflight experience === right|thumb|CAPT Lawrence (2nd from left) aboard Russian Space Station ''Mir'' (June 1998) [[File:STS-114 James Kelly and Wendy Lawrence at Canadarm2 controls.jpg|thumb|200px|With James Kelly in ''Destiny'' during STS-114. (Aug 2005)]] STS-67 ''Endeavour'' (March 2–18, 1995) was the second flight of the ASTRO observatory, a unique complement of three telescopes. During this 16-day mission, the crew conducted observations around the clock to study the far ultraviolet spectra of faint astronomical objects and the polarization of ultraviolet light coming from hot stars and distant galaxies. Mission duration was 399 hours and 9 minutes.<ref>{{Cite web|last=KSC|first=Lynda Warnock|title=NASA – STS-67|url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-67.html|access-date=July 20, 2020|website=www.nasa.gov|language=en}}</ref>
STS-86 ''Atlantis'' (September 25 to October 6, 1997) was the seventh mission to rendezvous and dock with the Russian Space Station Mir. Highlights included the exchange of U.S. crew members Mike Foale and David Wolf, a spacewalk by Scott Parazynski and Vladimir Titov to retrieve four experiments first deployed on Mir during the STS-76 docking mission, the transfer to Mir of 10,400 pounds of science and logistics, and the return of experiment hardware and results to Earth. Mission duration was 169 orbits in 259 hours and 21 minutes.<ref>{{Cite web|last=KSC|first=Lynda Warnock|title=NASA – STS-86|url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-86.html|access-date=July 20, 2020|website=www.nasa.gov|language=en}}</ref>
STS-91 ''Discovery'' (June 2–12, 1998) was the 9th and final Shuttle-Mir docking mission and marked the conclusion of the joint U.S./Russian Phase I Program. Mission duration was 235 hours, 54 minutes.<ref>{{Cite web|last=KSC|first=Lynda Warnock|title=NASA – STS-91|url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-91.html|access-date=July 20, 2020|website=www.nasa.gov|language=en}}</ref>
STS-114 ''Discovery'' (July 26 – August 9, 2005) was the first "Return to Flight" mission following the Space Shuttle ''Columbia'' disaster. Highlights included the first in-flight repair to the orbiter during a spacewalk. Mission duration was 333 hours, 33 minutes.<ref>{{Cite web|last=KSC|first=Lynda Warnock|title=NASA – STS-114|url=https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-114.html|access-date=July 20, 2020|website=www.nasa.gov|language=en|archive-date=August 15, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170815084222/https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-114.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
== Awards and honors == {| style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;" | colspan="3"|200px |- | colspan=3| {{ribbon devices|number=1|type=oak|ribbon=US Defense Superior Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=106}} |- | {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Legion of Merit ribbon.svg|width=106}} | {{ribbon devices|number=2|type=oak|ribbon=Defense Meritorious Service ribbon.svg|width=106}} | {{ribbon devices|number=1|type=award-star|ribbon=Navy and Marine Corps Commendation ribbon.svg|width=106}} |- | {{ribbon devices|number=1|type=award-star|ribbon=Navy and Marine Corps Achievement ribbon.svg|width=106}} | {{ribbon devices|number=3|type=award-star|ribbon=SpaceFltRib.svg|width=106}} | {{ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=National Defense Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=106}} |- | {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Global War on Terrorism Service Medal ribbon.svg|width=106}} | {{ribbon devices|number=1|type=service-star|ribbon=Sea Service Deployment Ribbon.svg|width=106}} | {{ribbon devices|number=0|type=oak|ribbon=Navy and Marine Corps Overseas Service Ribbon.svg|width=106}} |}
{| class="wikitable" style="margin:1em auto; text-align:center;" | colspan=3| Naval Aviator Astronaut badge |- | colspan=3| Defense Superior Service Medal<br />with cluster |- | Legion of Merit | Defense Meritorious Service Medal<br />with two clusters | Meritorious Service Medal<br />with star |- | Achievement Medal<br />with star | NASA Space Flight Medal<br />with three stars | National Defense Service Medal<br />with star |- | Global War on Terrorism<br />Service Medal | Sea Service Deployment Ribbon<br />with star | Overseas Service Ribbon |- | | Winifred Collins Award | |} *2019 U.S. Naval Academy Distinguished Graduate Award<ref>{{Cite web|title=Events and Programs – DGA Announcement – www.usna.com|url=https://www.usna.com/events-dga-announcement?erid=5793116&trid=2b9e8de1-1186-47e5-9940-1a1d1252f349/|access-date=July 20, 2020|website=www.usna.com}}</ref> (Her father was awarded this distinction in 2000).<ref>{{Cite web|title=Events and Programs – Distinguished Graduate Award Past Recipients – www.usna.com|url=https://www.usna.com/DGA-past-recipients|access-date=July 20, 2020|website=www.usna.com}}</ref>
== References == {{reflist}}
== External links == {{commons category}} * [https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/atoms/files/lawrence_wendy_0.pdf NASA biography] * [https://digitalcollections.museumofflight.org/items/show/39024 Wendy Lawrence oral history interview] at The Museum of Flight Digital Collections
{{NASA Astronaut Group 14}} {{authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lawrence, Wendy B.}} Category:1959 births Category:Living people Category:American women astronauts Category:United States Navy astronauts Category:United States Naval Academy alumni Category:United States Naval Academy faculty Category:MIT School of Engineering alumni Category:Female United States Navy officers Category:20th-century American women engineers Category:20th-century American engineers Category:Recipients of the Defense Superior Service Medal Category:21st-century American engineers Category:21st-century American women engineers Category:Women United States Naval Aviators Category:Aviators from Florida Category:People from Jacksonville, Florida Category:Space Shuttle program astronauts Category:American LGBTQ scientists Category:American women academics Category:Mir crew members Category:Members of Phi Kappa Phi Category:Women helicopter pilots Category:LGBTQ astronauts