Bonnie J. Dunbar facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Bonnie J. Dunbar
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Dunbar in 1997
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Bonnie Jeanne Dunbar
March 3, 1949 Sunnyside, Washington, U.S.
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| Space career | |
| NASA astronaut | |
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Time in space
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50d 8h 24m |
| Selection | NASA Group 9 (1980) |
| Missions | STS-61-A STS-32 STS-50 STS-71 STS-89 |
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Mission insignia
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| Scientific career | |
| Fields | Aerospace engineering |
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| Thesis | Effects of Antiorthostatic Kinesia on Sprague Dawley Rat Femur Fracture Toughness and Concomitant Alterations in Metabolic Activity ProQuest 303164294 (1983) |
Bonnie Jeanne Dunbar, born on March 3, 1949, is an amazing American engineer and a former NASA astronaut. She flew into space five times aboard the Space Shuttle between 1985 and 1998. Her missions included two trips to the Russian Mir space station.
After earning her Master of Science degree in ceramics engineering from the University of Washington, Dunbar worked at Rockwell International. There, she helped design the special ceramic tiles used to protect the Space Shuttle from extreme heat. In 1978, she joined NASA as a flight controller. She even helped monitor the Skylab space station as it returned to Earth. In 1980, she was chosen to become an astronaut. After her space career, she led the Museum of Flight in Seattle and taught engineering at universities.
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Bonnie Dunbar's Early Life and Education
Bonnie Jeanne Dunbar was born in Sunnyside, Washington. She was the oldest of four children. She grew up on a farm and learned to drive a tractor when she was only nine years old. She also helped her dad fix farm equipment.
When she was nine, her father started a 4-H club for her. This was because the Future Farmers of America didn't accept girls. She showed cattle until she was eighteen, often being the only girl in the club.
In 1957, Bonnie and her parents watched the night sky for Sputnik, the first artificial satellite. This made her very interested in space. She read science fiction books and followed the real-life adventures of the first American astronauts, the Mercury Seven. In 1962, her family visited the Seattle World's Fair, which had exhibits about space travel.
School Days and Big Dreams
Bonnie went to a small rural school. When she told her principal she wanted to build spacecraft, he told her to learn algebra. At Sunnyside High School, she took many science and math classes. She was also in the math, debate, speech, and Latin clubs. She played sports and was a cheerleader.
Her high school guidance counselor told her to marry a farmer. But Bonnie ignored this advice. She asked her physics teacher for career guidance instead. She scored very well on her SAT tests, especially in spatial ability and English.
After high school in 1967, Bonnie wanted to go to top engineering schools. However, some didn't accept women yet, and others were too expensive. She was accepted by the University of Washington and received financial help. She was the first in her family to attend college.
Discovering Engineering
At the University of Washington, Bonnie studied hard. She also played on the engineering baseball team. She wanted to join the Air Force ROTC, but they didn't accept women at the time. Instead, she volunteered for Angel Flight, a military support group. She also worked as a waitress and at movie theaters to pay for school.
The dean of the ceramics engineering department, James I. Mueller, heard about her interest in space. He had a grant from NASA to develop ceramic tiles for the Space Shuttle. He convinced Bonnie to switch her major to ceramic engineering. During summer breaks, she helped his team study materials for these tiles. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in ceramic engineering in 1971.
After college, engineering jobs were hard to find. Bonnie first worked as an office manager. Then, she got a job at Boeing in their computer services division. She used her computer programming skills there. Later, her former dean, Mueller, called her. He offered her a grant to go to graduate school. She researched materials for batteries and earned her Master of Science degree in ceramics engineering in 1975.
In 1975, Bonnie was invited to do research in England. Before she left, she accepted a job at Rockwell International's Space Division. There, she developed the equipment and processes to make the Space Shuttle's heat-shielding tiles. She was even named Rockwell's Engineer of the Year in 1978 for her work on these tiles.
Bonnie Dunbar's NASA Career
Becoming a Flight Controller
In 1976, NASA started looking for new astronauts, and for the first time, women were encouraged to apply. Bonnie was one of over 8,000 applicants. She became a finalist but wasn't chosen as an astronaut that time. However, NASA offered her another job at the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas.
In July 1978, Bonnie joined NASA as a flight controller and payload officer. She helped guide and navigate the Skylab space station as it returned to Earth in 1979. After that, she prepared for the first Space Shuttle mission, STS-1.
Bonnie noticed that most women chosen as astronauts had advanced degrees. So, she decided to earn her Ph.D. in mechanical/biomedical engineering from the University of Houston. Her research involved studying how microgravity (weightlessness) affects bones. She earned her doctorate in 1983.
Becoming an Astronaut
In 1979, NASA announced another astronaut selection. Bonnie applied again and was chosen as one of 19 new astronaut candidates in 1980. She was one of six civilians selected in her group.
After a year of training, Bonnie officially became a NASA astronaut on August 21, 1981. She helped test the Space Shuttle's computer software. She also worked on developing the remote manipulator system (RMS), which is the robotic arm used on the Shuttle. She was part of the support teams for the STS-2 and STS-9 missions.
First Space Flight: STS-61-A
On February 14, 1984, Bonnie was chosen for her first space mission, STS-61-A. This mission was called Spacelab D-1 and was dedicated to German science experiments. Bonnie spent seven months in Germany to help coordinate the mission. She even learned some German.
STS-61-A launched on October 30, 1985, aboard the Space Shuttle Challenger. It had eight crew members, the largest crew to fly in space at that time. The crew worked in two shifts, and Bonnie was in charge of the "blue shift." They performed about 75 scientific experiments. Bonnie's main job was to operate the Spacelab module and its systems.
Challenger landed on November 6, 1985. The mission lasted over 7 days, traveling 2.5 million miles and orbiting Earth 111 times.
Second Space Flight: STS-32
After the Space Shuttle Challenger accident in 1986, all flights were paused. Bonnie became involved in planning future science experiments for space.
On June 29, 1989, Bonnie was assigned to her second space flight, STS-32. This mission was to retrieve the Long Duration Exposure Facility (LDEF) satellite. The LDEF had been in space since 1984, studying how long-term exposure to space affects materials. By January 1990, it was close to falling back to Earth.
The STS-32 mission launched on January 9, 1990, aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia. The crew deployed a satellite, and Bonnie used the robotic arm to grab the LDEF. They also performed various experiments, including studies on crystal growth and how the human body adapts to space. The mission was filmed with an IMAX camera.
Columbia landed after almost 11 days in space. It had traveled 4.5 million miles and orbited Earth 173 times.
Third Space Flight: STS-50
Bonnie was chosen as the payload commander for STS-50, the United States Microgravity Lab-1 (USML-1) mission. This mission focused on experiments about microgravity and materials science. As payload commander, she organized the crew's schedule and training.
The STS-50 mission launched on June 25, 1992, again on Columbia. Over 30 experiments were carried out in the Spacelab module. For 13 days, the crew studied human physiology and grew different types of crystals in microgravity. They even had a microscope to watch the crystals grow.
Columbia landed on July 9, 1992. The mission lasted almost 14 days, traveling 5.7 million miles and orbiting Earth 221 times.
Training in Russia and STS-71
In 1993, Bonnie worked at NASA Headquarters, helping with decisions about the design of the International Space Station (ISS). In December 1993, she returned to the Astronaut Office. She was asked to train in Russia as a backup for the first U.S. astronaut to fly on the Russian Mir space station. This was a tough, year-long training program.
Bonnie began learning Russian, even though she wasn't fluent. She spent 13 months training in Star City, Russia. She learned about the Mir systems and even did survival training for a possible landing in the Arctic. In March 1995, she was certified for long-duration Mir flights.
Although she didn't fly a long-duration mission on Mir, her training was very useful. She visited Mir on the STS-71 mission. Bonnie was a mission specialist on this flight. The mission launched on June 27, 1995, aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis. This was the first time a Space Shuttle docked with the Mir space station, and the crews exchanged places. They also performed medical tests on the Mir crew to study the effects of long-term weightlessness.
The STS-71 mission lasted almost 10 days. Atlantis landed on July 7, 1995, after traveling 4.1 million miles and orbiting Earth 153 times.
Final Space Flight: STS-89
In January 1998, Bonnie returned to Mir on the STS-89 mission aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. This was the eighth time the Space Shuttle docked with Mir. The crew transferred over 9,000 pounds of equipment, food, and water to Mir. They also exchanged astronauts, bringing one back to Earth and leaving another on Mir.
As payload commander, Bonnie was in charge of 23 science and technology experiments. Endeavour landed after almost 9 days in space, traveling 3.6 million miles and orbiting Earth 138 times.
Between 1995 and 1996, Bonnie worked at NASA on preparing for the International Space Station (ISS) and helping with cooperation between Russia and America. She retired from NASA on September 30, 2005. In her five space flights, she spent over 50 days in space. She also has many hours of flight time as a pilot.
Life After NASA
After leaving NASA, Bonnie Dunbar became the president and CEO of the Museum of Flight in Seattle. She started the Washington Aerospace Scholars program, which is an online learning course for high school students. This program works with NASA and Washington state.
She also expanded the museum's programs for students, reaching nearly 140,000 students each year. She helped build a new bridge at the museum and made it a Smithsonian affiliate. She left the museum in 2010. She tried to get a Space Shuttle for the museum, but instead, they got NASA's Full-Fuselage Shuttle Trainer, which is a huge training model.
From 2013 to 2015, Bonnie led the University of Houston's STEM Center. STEM stands for Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics. She also taught engineering there. In 2016, she became a professor of aerospace engineering at Texas A&M University. She was also the Director of the Institute for Engineering Education and Innovation until 2020.
Personal Life
Bonnie Dunbar married Ronald M. Sega in 1988. He was also an astronaut and an electrical engineering professor. They later divorced.
Organizations and Awards
Bonnie Dunbar has been a member of many important organizations related to science, engineering, and space. She has also received many awards and honors for her achievements.
Some of her notable awards include:
- Elected to the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame (2013)
- NASA Space Flight Medals (for each of her five missions)
- NASA Distinguished Service Medal (1996 and 1999)
- IEEE Judith A. Resnik Award (1993)
- Society of Women Engineers National Achievement Award (2006)
- Rockwell International Engineer of the Year (1978)
She has also received many honorary doctorates from universities around the world.
Images for kids
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Patch for STS-61-A mission
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Patch for STS-32 mission
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Patch for STS-50 mission
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Patch for STS-71 mission
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Patch for STS-89 mission
