News

Shuttle to launch with D-O graduate aboard

November 15, 2009

— Dr. Robert “Bobby” L. Satcher Jr. has come a long way since he was named valedictorian of Denmark-Olar High School’s Class of 1982.

At 2:28 p.m. Monday, he will go even farther.

Satcher will make his first trip into space a part of a six-man crew to take flight on the space shuttle Atlantis. During the flight, he will join other astronauts in installing spare materials on the outside of the International Space Station in preparation for the day when the shuttles are no longer flying.

It is a mission that, for Satcher, began with his pursuit of an education.

“I wouldn’t be where I am without education,” the 44-year-old said in an interview with NASA. “I think it’s something that we as a generation, I would say my generation, I think we kind of undervalue.

“You can do anything you want once you have your education and education is definitely the gift that keeps on giving. It drives you to continue to try to make yourself better which, of course, opens up more and more possibilities for you.”

Satcher received his bachelor’s and doctorate degrees in chemical engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He went from there to Harvard Medical School, where he earned his doctorate of medicine.

“I had the privilege of meeting Ron McNair; he came to M.I.T. a few times when I was there as a student, and I knew about his story,” Satcher said. “He actually was from South Carolina also and got his Ph.D. at M.I.T., and then came to NASA and became an astronaut.”

McNair and six other crew members died aboard the space shuttle Challenger in 1986.

Satcher joined NASA in May 2004. In February 2006, he completed Astronaut Candidate Training that included scientific and technical briefings, intensive instruction in shuttle and International Space Station systems, physiological training, T-38 flight training, and water and wilderness survival training.

But he didn’t forget Denmark. Officials say he took a brief tour of his old high school last year.

“Not a whole lot of my classmates went to college, to tell you the truth, but again that’s where the family influence was really a determinate to me,” Satcher said in the NASA interview. “I mean, I knew I was going to go to college and I also knew I was interested in math and science and so I wanted to kind of go as a lot of young men and, I guess, young ladies do, too, but I wanted to go somewhere where I hadn’t been before, just that sense of adventure and wanting to go far away.”

And he’s not forgotten in Denmark. Sandra Moody, who taught Satcher English one year, says his brilliance was apparent.

“I remember him being a very focused and intelligent young man,” Moody said. “He was always attentive and there was never a problem as far as discipline.”

Moody says when she heard the news that Satcher was going to make his first space flight she was not really that surprised.

“He was a standout,” Moody said. “He was a special student. He had that capacity, he had that intellect and he had that drive to be successful. He had the look of somebody that would achieve great heights. You could tell that he had it.”

Satcher, a native of Hampton, Va., attended St. Phillip’s Episcopal Church in Denmark during his high school years.

Final inspections were completed on Atlantis and the payload bay doors were closed for flight Friday morning. The official launch countdown for Atlantis began Friday at 1 p.m.

Shuttle officials say there is a 10 percent chance of weather hindering a successful launch Monday.

T&D Staff Writer Gene Zaleski can be reached by e-mail at gzaleski@timesanddemocrat.com or by phone at 803-533-5551. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

Originally post by The Times and Democrat