Last Wednesday evening, the NASA shuttle Endeavor blasted off, taking UC Davis alumna, Tracy Caldwell with it. In 1997, Caldwell received her physical chemistry doctorate from UC Davis and in 1998, she was chosen to be part of the astronaut corps, joining other teachers and educators in space exploration.

Overall, the story is not very interesting. I just like the idea that the article, written by the Davis Enterprise, highlights pretty much everyone except Caldwell. Instead, they concentrated on Barbara Morgan, who would be going on Endeavor as well. She served as a backup for the 1986 Challenger flight which ended tragically when it exploded minutes after its takeoff.

My favorite part of the article though is the last two paragraphs when, out of no where, they mention another (more famous) UCD alumnus, Steve Robinson and list his accomplishments. He's UC Davis very marketable and full-time astronaut (not this half-and-half teacher BS). I guess the basic rule is that anywhere you mention space + UCD alumni, you have to mention Robinson. And why not? I got to meet him a few years ago and he's a pretty cool dude. Better than this... wait - who were we talking about?