Steve Swanson, who will lift into the air with the space shuttle Atlantis on Friday, said high school in Steamboat Springs and college in Boulder helped prepare him for the journey.
It was in Colorado that the 46-year-old Swanson said he developed his engineering expertise – and his love of fishing, hiking and camping.
“The way I look at this spaceship, it’s like a camping trip,” Swanson said in a telephone interview.
“It’s a small volume without the comforts of home,” he said. “We’re inside a tent for a long period of time with some good friends, away from home, enjoying a great view.”
Several of Swanson’s friends who graduated with him from Steamboat Springs High School in 1979 plan to attend Friday’s launch in Florida.
Bredt Eggleston said he hopes his friend flies a spacecraft better than he drove his parents’ old station wagon in the snow.
“He just could not keep that thing between the ditches,” Eggleston said. “Steve spent a lot of time pulling that car out of the snowbanks.”
Swanson will become the 18th University of Colorado alum to fly into space.
Among civilian universities, only Purdue in Indiana has more spaceflight alumni, said Stein Sture, incoming vice chancellor for research and a professor of engineering at the University of Colorado.
Purdue has 21 alums who have flown in space, and another is awaiting his first assignment, according to the university.
Fifteen CU astronauts returned safely, with many going on to other flights. Two died – Ellison Onizuka in the Challenger accident in 1986 and Kalpana Chawla in the Columbia explosion in 2003.
The U.S. Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy have graduated more astronauts than either CU or Purdue.
Friday’s launch comes almost three months late. A February hailstorm damaged Atlantis’ fuel tank insulation as the craft sat on the launch pad.
In recent weeks, NASA turned up some evidence of possible corrosion. Tests have turned up no “show stoppers,” the agency reported.
“We’re a little nervous, a little apprehensive. The probability for accidents is, you know, fairly high,” CU’s Sture said.
“This is not like going on a commercial airline,” he said.
Mary Swanson, Steve’s wife and a Steamboat Springs native, said she tries not to think too much about the risk.
“Mostly, it’s just really exciting,” she said from their Houston home. “I wish I could be like Jeannie (the genie of the “I Dream of Jeannie” sitcom) and blink myself into that cockpit.”
Swanson will take a handful of mementos, his wife said, including his 11-year-old son’s Lego astronaut, a CU banner and a grandmother’s wedding ring.
The seven-member crew is ferrying pieces for the international space station.
Swanson is slated for a spacewalk to help assemble new parts on the space station, and he will also help operate shuttle and station arms for that assembly.
The astronaut earned a bachelor of science degree in engineering physics from the University of Colorado at Boulder in 1983.
Swanson worked as a communications software engineer and got his Ph.D. in computer science from Texas A&M University. He started astronaut training in 1998, and has held several positions with NASA, most involving space station operations.
Tyler Arroyo, who also graduated from high school with Swanson and still lives in Steamboat, said he was heading to Florida for Steve’s launch.
“Two years ago, Steve took me and my father for a ride in his airplane,” Arroyo said. “Oh, it was just great. You could just tell in Steve that he wanted to go higher, he wanted a better view.”
Staff writer Katy Human can be reached at 303-954-1910 or khuman@denverpost.com.
CU’s astronauts
Loren Acton, doctorate in astrogeophysics, 1965.
Vance Brand, bachelor’s in business, 1953, and master’s in aerospace engineering, 1960.
Scott Carpenter, honorary bachelor’s in aerospace engineering, 1962.
Kalpana Chawla, doctorate, aerospace engineering, 1988 (deceased).
Takao Doi, post-doctorate student and associate adjunct professor of aerospace engineering, 1991-95.
Samuel Durrance, doctorate in astrogeophysics, 1980.
Richard J. Hieb, master’s in aeronautical engineering, 1979.
John Herrington, bachelor’s in applied mathematics, 1983 (from the University of Colorado-Colorado Springs campus).
Marsha Ivins, bachelor’s in aerospace engineering, 1973.
John “Mike” Lounge, master’s in aerospace engineering, 1970.
Ed Lu, post-doctoral researcher in astrophysics, 1990-92.
George D. “Pinky” Nelson, post-doctorate work in astrogeophysics, 1978.
Ellison Onizuka, bachelor’s and master’s in aerospace engineering, 1969 (deceased).
Stewart Roosa, bachelor’s in aerospace engineering, 1960 (deceased).
Ronald Sega, doctorate in electrical engineering, 1982.
Steve Swanson, bachelor’s in engineering physics, 1983.
Jack Swigert, bachelor’s in mechanical engineering, 1953 (deceased).
Jim Voss, master’s in aerospace engineering, 1974.
All degrees are from CU-Boulder, except John Herrington’s.
This article has been corrected in this online archive. Originally, due to a reporting error, it incorrectly noted the top U.S. universities graduating astronauts. Purdue and CU have produced more astronauts than other civilian universities. The U.S. Air Force Academy and the Naval Academy have graduated more astronauts than either.
