Sisterhood Spotlight

Did you always want to be an astronaut?

When I was growing up, being an astronaut was not an option for me. There were very few astronauts, and all were men and military test pilots. No matter how hard I worked, I was not going to make the cut. I became interested in physics in high school and continued to study it in college because I found physics to be a challenging puzzle. While I was busy doing physics problems, the country was changing around me. Thanks to the Civil Rights and Women’s Movements of the 1960s and 1970s, new opportunities were opening up women for the first time. I enrolled in a PhD program at the University of Virginia only four years after women were first admitted to the entering class. I completed my PhD only one year after women were first selected for the astronaut program as mission specialists. It took another dozen years before the first woman was selected as a shuttle pilot. I was so fortunate to have missed the “girls don’t do science” message when I was growing up, or to naturally be a contrarian who defied it. I rode the wave of positive changes for women in the United States. When I saw an announcement that NASA was selecting the next group of shuttle astronauts, I had the qualifications and was able to apply. I was selected as a mission specialist astronaut in 1984 in the third class to include women.

What advice do you have for Virginia’s Women+girls (W+g) who want to pursue a career in the aerospace industry?

All are welcome and all are needed:  scientists, engineers, doctors, lawyers, administrative professionals, and trades men and women. The aerospace industry encompasses a wide range of goods and services including satellites and rockets, communications, tracking, operations, medicine, law, and policy among others, as well as many other supporting industries. Choose a field that interests you and always endeavor to be the best at what you do.  Degrees in math, science, engineering and medicine are desirable for space travelers, but now that human space flight is no longer the sole purview of NASA and other governments, the paths to space are changing.   As a guide, prospective space flyers should take a look at the biographies of people who are doing what they want to do.   

Is there a reason why you left NASA to become a teacher?

I have had three distinct careers in my life so far: intelligence analyst, astronaut, and professor.  I left my first career for an incredible opportunity with NASA, and I made the choice to leave my second career to have more time with my family. During my 12 years with NASA, I had four great space flights and loved every minute.  I would probably have launched a few more times before retirement of the space shuttle, but my kids were growing up and I was missing it.  I still keep my fingers in the space business with occasional NASA committees, the Space Foundation, the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and the Virginia Spaceport Authority Board of Directors. 

After I left NASA, I spent more than 22 years teaching and advising students at UVA, not quite long enough to have taught children of former students, but long enough to run across former students who are doing well in the aerospace industry.   It is a great pleasure to see how they have grown into their careers and their lives.

Which of your many accomplishments would you most like to be remembered?

Your question makes me think about the difference between being remembered and leaving a legacy.  I will most likely be remembered for my spaceflights, especially the Hubble Space Telescope service mission where I played a small part in recovering the capability of that extraordinary instrument.  But without a doubt, my most enduring legacy is my children. I am so proud of the adults they have become, and my legacy continues with my adorable grandchildren. 

I recall a handful of teachers in my early life who truly made a difference in my career.  Of the thousands of students I have touched over the years, I like to think I made that list for at least a few of them.  That is a legacy that I would like.

Is there anything that you would like Virginians to know about NASA/the future of space exploration?

The only thing certain about the future of space exploration is that it will be bigger and more exciting than we can imagine today. One of my uncles used to tell stories about traveling across Arkansas in a covered wagon when he was a kid, then he watched me launch twice on the Space Shuttle. Advances in atmospheric flight and space flight during his lifetime are astonishing and would have seemed too fantastical to be true for a kid in a horse-drawn wagon.  During my lifetime so far, we launched satellites and then soon after launched humans. We sent humans to the moon and robotic explorers throughout the solar system. Both Voyager 1 and Voyager 2, launched in 1977, have left our solar system and entered interstellar space. We built and launched five space shuttles and built a space station that has been continuously occupied for more than 20 years. The evolution from only NASA and DoD space programs to private space companies with their own objectives is fascinating to watch. I’m excited to see how the commercial space industry develops and how far we as humans will venture in the next 20 or 30 years of my lifetime.   

One thing Virginians definitely should know:  We have a gateway to space right here in Virginia.  The Commonwealth, through the Virginia Spaceport Authority, owns and operates the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island on the Eastern Shore.  MARS is one of only four sites in the US licensed for vertical launches, and has launched a variety of NASA, DoD and commercial payloads such as resupply to the International Space Station and NASA’s LADEE mission which successfully orbited the moon gathering information about the lunar atmosphere, conditions near the surface and lunar dust.

About Kathryn C. Thornton

Kathryn C. Thornton is Professor Emerita at the University of Virginia in the School of Engineering and Applied Science, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Selected by NASA in May 1984, Thornton is a veteran of four space flights. She has logged over 975 hours in space, including more than 21 hours of extravehicular activity (EVA), and was inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2010.

Thornton began her career as a civilian physicist at the U.S. Army Foreign Science and Technology Center in Charlottesville, VA. While working in Charlottesville, she saw a call for applications for the third class of astronauts that included women. She applied, was selected, and moved to Houston, TX to start her second career as an astronaut. Her missions included a classified Department of Defense mission, a satellite rescue and redeployment, the first service mission to the Hubble Space Telescope and a mission dedicated to physical science experiments in microgravity. She left NASA in 1996 to start her third and longest career as a professor at UVA. After 22 years teaching and advising students, she retired from UVA to hike the Appalachian Trail in 2019.  

Dr. Thornton is the recipient of numerous awards including NASA Space Flight Medals, the Explorer Club Lowell Thomas Award, the University of Virginia Distinguished Alumna Award, the Freedom Foundation Freedom Spirit Award, and the National Intelligence Medal of Achievement. She currently serves on the boards of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and the Virginia Spaceport Authority.