Profile: Astronaut Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger

Space Shuttle Discovery docked with the International Space Station this week, and despite some technical glitches, so far the astronauts on board seem to be right on schedule.

One astronaut in particular got our attention -- and not just because she's from the great state of Colorado (home to Big Brain Club headquarters). No, Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger got our attention because she's a somewhat unlikely candidate to be an astronaut, and also because she's another shining example that being smart is cool (and that being smart leads to cool things, like working in a space station 200 miles above the earth).

Dottie took an unusual path to NASA. Still just 34 years old, she is a high school science teacher in the Pacific Northwest. She was a geology major in college who stumbled onto the NASA application process when researching a question for one of her students. She applied, and was one of just three teachers selected from more than 8,000 submissions.

Sure, she's an astronaut. But she's also a long-distance runner, a singer, a mother, a teacher... and very clearly, she is someone who loves to learn about new things and new places.

Here is a recent news story about Dottie from ABC News. For even more, here is a link to her official NASA bio and here is a link to an interview she gave just before taking off for the ISS. Is it too obvious to point out that Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger is someone who's not afraid to reach for the stars?

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