FORT COLLINS — As the Fort Collins High School band played the theme from “Star Wars,” astronaut-alumna Dottie Metcalf-Lindenburger returned to her alma mater Wednesday to bring home objects that flew with her on space shuttle Discovery last month.
The official NASA flight manifest lists 10 small Colorado flags, T-shirts and a peace pole sent along on the mission by kids from schools in Fort Collins and Loveland.
It does not list the tiny Fort Collins Lambkin mascot, Clyde, because Metcalf-Lindenburger tucked the astro-sheep, dressed in a handmade gold space suit, into her personal gear, much to the delight of the other astronauts, who like to rib her about being a Lambkin.
“Clyde got to come out with me and float around in the shuttle and on the space station,” Metcalf-Lindenburger assured her former calculus teacher and cross-country coach, Craig Luckasen, before her speech to more than 2,000 people.
“She’s more than an astronaut to us; she’s a Lamb kin,” principal Mark Eversole said as a student dressed in the “fierce Clyde” mascot costume escorted Metcalf-Lindenburger to the stage.
A teacher before she joined NASA, Metcalf-Lindenburger used her classroom management skills to hold the attention of the boisterous crowd as she linked walking the halls of her old high school with flying on the space shuttle.
“No matter where you are in this whole journey, it is really important with the things that face us today in this country and the world, that you understand the importance of an education,” she said.
Back in 1993, the astronaut-to-be went by Dorothy Metcalf. She hung out with the band kids, competed in Science Olympiad and ran track.
“I was once a member of a cross-country team that happened to win state my junior and my senior year,” she told the assembly. “As a member of that team, I was never a No. 1 runner. Many times I was at the back of the pack, but I was still contributing. When I look around at all of you, I see we are all part of a team. Whatever you do, go out there with excellence, representing those who walked the halls before you.”
The shuttle passed over Colorado, and Metcalf-Lindenburger said she was able to spot the Front Range, Denver International Airport and a lake near her parents’ Fort Collins home. “It means a lot when you’re so far away from home.”
Both Lambkins logged 362 hours in space.
“At this time I would like to return Clyde to his school,” said Metcalf-Lindenburger, pulling the fleecy space veteran from her bag as the students cheered.
After the assembly, students milled around, signing yearbooks. Metcalf-Lindenburger was ready, with a Sharpie she keeps in her jumpsuit arm pocket.
As she wrote her name in silver ink in Thomas Fiala’s yearbook, the senior told Metcalf-Lindenburger that he had always been interested in space and planned to study aeronautical engineering.
“It’s just awesome to have a Lambkin up in space,” Fiala said.
Kristen Browning-Blas: 303-954-1440 or kbrowning@denverpost.com
