Dorothy Marie "Dottie" Metcalf-Lindenburger (born May 2, 1975, in

Colorado Springs, Colorado Colorado Springs is a home rule municipality in, and the county seat of, El Paso County, Colorado, United States. It is the largest city in El Paso County, with a population of 478,961 at the 2020 United States Census, a 15.02% increase since ...

) is a retired American

astronaut An astronaut (from the Ancient Greek (), meaning 'star', and (), meaning 'sailor') is a person trained, equipped, and deployed by a human spaceflight program to serve as a commander or crew member aboard a spacecraft. Although generally r ...

. In 2000, she married Jason Metcalf-Lindenburger, a fellow Whitman College graduate and educator, from Pendleton, Oregon, and they now have one daughter together. She was a science teacher at

Hudson's Bay High School Hudson's Bay High School is a public high school in the Central Park area of Vancouver, Washington, and is part of Vancouver Public Schools. It was founded in 1955 and was named after the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), as Fort Vancouver had been chos ...

Vancouver, Washington Vancouver is a city on the north bank of the Columbia River in the U.S. state of Washington, located in Clark County. Incorporated in 1857, Vancouver has a population of 190,915 as of the 2020 census, making it the fourth-largest city in Was ...

when she was selected in 2004 as an Educator Mission Specialist. Her parents are Joyce and Keith Metcalf, who reside in Fort Collins, Colorado. She was the first Space Camp alumna to become an astronaut.

Education

* Fort Collins High School,

Fort Collins, Colorado Fort Collins is a home rule municipality that is the county seat and the most populous municipality of Larimer County, Colorado Larimer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Colorado. As of the 2020 census, the population was 359 ...

. * Bachelor of Arts, Geology with honors and

cum laude Latin honors are a system of Latin phrases used in some colleges and universities to indicate the level of distinction with which an academic degree has been earned. The system is primarily used in the United States. It is also used in some Sou ...

, Whitman College, Walla Walla, Washington, 1997. * Teaching Certification, Central Washington University, Ellensburg, Washington, 1999. * MS in Geology,

University of Washington The University of Washington (UW, simply Washington, or informally U-Dub) is a public research university in Seattle, Washington. Founded in 1861, Washington is one of the oldest universities on the West Coast; it was established in Seattle a ...

Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a port, seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the county seat, seat of King County, Washington, King County, Washington (state), Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in bo ...

, 2016

Organization

* International Order of the Rainbow for Girls *

Phi Beta Kappa The Phi Beta Kappa Society () is the oldest academic honor society in the United States, and the most prestigious, due in part to its long history and academic selectivity. Phi Beta Kappa aims to promote and advocate excellence in the liberal a ...

* National Education Association * The Mars Generation

Honors

* 2007 Space Camp Hall of Fame Inaugural Inductee * 1999 Outstanding Teacher Preparation Candidate at Central Washington University. * 1997 Whitman College Leed's Geology Award * 1997 Whitman College Order of the Waiilatpu * 1996 GSA Field Camp Award * 1995–1996 NAIA Academic All-American in Cross Country and Track * 1996 NAIA Conference Champion in the 10K.

Teaching career

* Five years of teaching

earth science Earth science or geoscience includes all fields of natural science related to the planet Earth. This is a branch of science dealing with the physical, chemical, and biological complex constitutions and synergistic linkages of Earth's four spheres ...

and

astronomy Astronomy () is a natural science that studies astronomical object, celestial objects and phenomena. It uses mathematics, physics, and chemistry in order to explain their origin and chronology of the Universe, evolution. Objects of interest ...

. * Three years of coaching

cross-country Cross country or cross-country may refer to: Places * Cross Country, Baltimore, a neighborhood in northwest Baltimore, Maryland * Cross County Parkway, an east–west parkway in Westchester County, NY * Cross County Shopping Center, a mall in Yo ...

at the

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

level, and two years of coaching

Science Olympiad Science Olympiad is an American team competition in which students compete in 23 events pertaining to various fields of science, including earth science, biology, chemistry, physics, and engineering. Over 7,800 middle school and high school team ...

. *

Undergraduate Undergraduate education is education conducted after secondary education and before postgraduate education. It typically includes all postsecondary programs up to the level of a bachelor's degree. For example, in the United States, an entry-lev ...

research with the KECK Consortium for two summers: ** 1995 in

Wyoming Wyoming () is a U.S. state, state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It is bordered by Montana to the north and northwest, South Dakota and Nebraska to the east, Idaho to the west, Utah to the south ...

mapping the last glaciations of Russell Creek, and ** 1996 mapping and determining the

petrology Petrology () is the branch of geology that studies rocks and the conditions under which they form. Petrology has three subdivisions: igneous, metamorphic, and sedimentary petrology. Igneous and metamorphic petrology are commonly taught together ...

of the

rocks In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks form the Earth's ...

in the Wet Mountain region of

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the western edge of t ...

.
Both research positions led to publications.

NASA career

Metcalf-Lindenburger was selected by NASA in May 2004 as an Astronaut Candidate. Astronaut Candidate Training includes orientation briefings and tours, numerous scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in Shuttle and

International Space Station The International Space Station (ISS) is the largest modular space station currently in low Earth orbit. It is a multinational collaborative project involving five participating space agencies: NASA (United States), Roscosmos (Russia), JAXA ...

systems,

physiological Physiology (; ) is the scientific study of functions and mechanisms in a living system. As a sub-discipline of biology, physiology focuses on how organisms, organ systems, individual organs, cells, and biomolecules carry out the chemical ...

training,

T-38 T38 or T-38 may refer to: * T38 (classification), a disability sport classification for disability athletics * T.38, a standard for fax over IP * T-38 tank, a Soviet light tank * Allison T38, a turboprop aircraft engine * Northrop T-38 Talon, a U.S ...

flight training, and water and wilderness survival training. Successful completion of this training in February 2006 qualified her as a NASA Astronaut. She served as a Mission Specialist on STS-131, an April 2010 Space Shuttle mission to the

. The mission's primary payload was the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. STS-131 ISS-23 Four Women

On July 20, 2009, Metcalf-Lindenburger sang the

National Anthem A national anthem is a patriotic musical composition symbolizing and evoking eulogies of the history and traditions of a country or nation. The majority of national anthems are marches or hymns in style. American, Central Asian, and European n ...

at the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

game against the St. Louis Cardinals in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the

Apollo 11 Apollo 11 (July 16–24, 1969) was the American spaceflight that first landed humans on the Moon. Commander Neil Armstrong and lunar module pilot Buzz Aldrin landed the Apollo Lunar Module ''Eagle'' on July 20, 1969, at 20:17 UTC, an ...

Moon landing. She has been a long-time lead singer with the all-astronaut rock band, "

Max Q The max q or maximum dynamic pressure condition is the point when an aerospace vehicle's atmospheric flight reaches the maximum difference between the fluid dynamics total pressure and the ambient static pressure. For an airplane, this occurs at ...

". On April 16, 2012, NASA announced that Metcalf-Lindenburger would command the NEEMO 16 undersea exploration mission aboard the

Aquarius Aquarius may refer to: Astrology * Aquarius (astrology), an astrological sign * Age of Aquarius, a time period in the cycle of astrological ages Astronomy * Aquarius (constellation) * Aquarius in Chinese astronomy Arts and entertainment ...

underwater laboratory, scheduled to begin on June 11, 2012, and last twelve days. The NEEMO 16 crew successfully "splashed down" at 11:05 am on June 11. On the morning of June 12, Metcalf-Lindenburger and her crewmates officially became aquanauts, having spent over 24 hours underwater. The crew safely returned to the surface on June 22. Metcalf-Lindenburger retired from NASA on June 13, 2014, to live and work in the Seattle area.

Spaceflights

STS-131 ''Discovery'' (April 5 to 20, 2010), a resupply mission to the International Space Station, was launched at night from the Kennedy Space Center, Florida. On arrival at the station, ''Discovery''s crew dropped off more than 27,000 pounds of hardware, supplies and equipment, including a tank full of ammonia coolant that required three spacewalks to hook up, new crew sleeping quarters and three experiment racks. On the return journey, ''Leonardo'', the Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) inside ''Discovery''s payload bay, was packed with more than 6,000 pounds of hardware, science results and trash. The STS-131 mission was accomplished in 15 days, 02 hours, 47 minutes and 10 seconds and traveled 6,232,235 statute miles in 238 Earth orbits.

References

External links

*
Spacefacts biography of Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger

The Mars Generation TEDx Talk
{{DEFAULTSORT:Metcalf-Lindenburger, Dorothy M. 1975 births Living people Aquanauts Women astronauts Educator astronauts Schoolteachers from Washington (state) American women educators NASA civilian astronauts People from Colorado Springs, Colorado Science teachers Whitman College alumni People from Vancouver, Washington Space Shuttle program astronauts 21st-century American women