LINDA GODWIN TO SPEAK AT SOUTHEAST COMMON HOUR

NASA astronaut and Southeast Missouri State University alumna Linda Godwin will speak at the school's Sept. 18 Common Hour program.

Godwin's presentation, sponsored by the president's office, is scheduled for noon to 1:15 p.m. in the University Center Ballroom. The event will be the fourth in a series of university "Common Hour" programs this year.

Last spring, Godwin completed her third trip into space on a mission aboard the space shuttle Atlantis. She previously had completed missions aboard the Atlantis in 1991 and the space shuttle Endeavor in 1994. A veteran of three space flights, Godwin has logged more than 633 hours in space, including a six-hour space walk.

Godwin's mission last March was the third to dock with the Russian Space Station Mir. While joined to Mir, the crew transferred more than two tons of supplies and experiments from the shuttle to Mir and performed the first-ever space walk from the shuttle/Mir complex to attach scientific experiments to the exterior of Mir.

During the March 21 mission, Godwin assisted in the transfer of items from Atlantis to Mir and was one of two crew members to participate in a space walk. She also was one of two who conducted biology experiments on microscopic samples.

Godwin trains at the Johnson Space Center in Houston.

An Oak Ridge native, Godwin graduated from Jackson High School in 1970.

She received a bachelor of science degree in mathematics and physics from Southeast in 1974, and earned her master's and doctoral degrees in physics in 1976 and 1980, respectively, from the University of Missouri- Columbia.

Godwin is deputy chief of the astronaut office at the Johnson Space Center.

As a member of the space shuttle Atlantis crew in 1991, Godwin was in charge of the deployment of the Gamma Ray Observatory.

She carried a specially commissioned Southeast Missouri State University banner aboard the shuttle. The banner, featuring the Academic Hall dome against a full moon with the shuttle soaring overhead, is permanently displayed at the school.

In addition, the Center for Science and Mathematics Education at Southeast bears Godwin's name.