Story and me

On Saturday, February 2, 2007 I had the privilege of meeting Story Musgrave. Among his many accomplishments are six space shuttle missions including two secret missions for the Department of Defense and one for the Hubble Telescope service and repair. As a long time fan of the U.S. manned space programs it was a real thrill to have lunch with him and hear him talk about his missions, but there was more to the story about Story (I couldn't resist the pun).

Story (that's his middle name) has an amazing history. He has a biography out and I picked up a copy he autographed for me. You think six shuttle missions might be a real accomplishment, but I was blown away by the fact that he has SIX (yes - 1,2,3,4,5,SIX) graduate degrees. You'd think he was born into a privileged family? Wrong. He had a violent father and a mother who battled alcoholism. He truly overcame some pretty harsh conditions to not only survive, but thrive. I felt like such a slacker.

You can check out his official NASA bio here. He was very gracious and posed for the picture above. When I approached him he asked "You look familiar. Do you work here?"

Heh, no I don't work here, but maybe someday ;)