Laurel Clark

Laurel Clark
NASA astronaut
Rank	Captain, USN
Time in space	15d 22h 20m
Selection	NASA Group 16 (1996)
Missions	STS-107
Mission insignia

Laurel Blair Clark (née Salton; March 10, 1961 – February 1, 2003) was an American

Clark is survived by her husband, fellow former U.S. Navy captain and NASA flight surgeon Dr. Jonathan Clark (who was part of an official NASA panel that prepared the final 400-page report about the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster), and son, Iain, who was born in 1996.^[1][2]

Education

• 1979: Graduated from William Horlick High School, Racine, Wisconsin
• 1983: Received Bachelor of Science degree in Zoology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison
• 1987: Received doctorate in Medicine from the University of Wisconsin–Madison

Organizations

Clark was a member of the Aerospace Medical Association and the Society of U.S. Naval Flight Surgeons. She was also a member of the Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church in Racine, Wisconsin.^[3]

Military career

During medical school, Clark did active duty training with the Diving Medicine Department at the

STS-107 Columbia – The 16-day flight was a dedicated science and research mission. Working 24 hours a day, in two alternating shifts, the crew successfully conducted approximately 80 experiments. Clark's bioscience experiments included gardening in space, as she discussed only days before her death in an interview with Milwaukee media near her Wisconsin hometown. The STS-107 mission ended abruptly on February 1, 2003, when Columbia disintegrated and her crew perished during re-entry, 16 minutes before scheduled landing.

Clark also recorded inside the cockpit during Columbia's descent into the Earth's atmosphere on a small digital camera.^[8]

Clark's final message to her friends and family was through an email sent from Columbia.^[9][10] In the released text of the email, Clark called the planet magnificent, and explained that while she spends much of the time working back in Spacehab and away from the sights of Earth, "whenever I do get to look out, it is glorious." Clark found that taking photos of the Earth was challenging, "Keeping my fingers crossed that they're in sharp focus." Clark also shared some of the intriguing effects of micro gravity on human physiology, such as constant challenge to stay adequately hydrated due to an "almost non-existent" sense of thirst.^[11]

Awards and decorations

Clark was awarded numerous insignia and personal decorations including:

Qualification insignia

• Naval Astronaut/Flight Surgeon
• Naval Flight Surgeon
• Diving Medical Officer
• Submarine Medical Officer

Personal decorations

• Defense Distinguished Service Medal ^†
• award stars
  (3 awards)
• Congressional Space Medal of Honor ^†
• NASA Distinguished Service Medal ^†
• NASA Space Flight Medal ^†
• National Defense Service Medal
• Overseas Service Ribbon

The ^† symbol indicates a posthumous award.

Tributes

• Asteroid 51827 Laurelclark was named for Clark.^[12]
• Clark Hill in the Columbia Hills on Mars was named for Clark.^[13]
• L. Clark, an interior crater of the lunar crater Apollo, was named for Clark.^[14][15]
• Clark Hall, in the Columbia Village Suites at the Florida Institute of Technology, is named after her.^{[citation needed]} The apartments were initially planned to be named the Crane Creek Suites, but were renamed in 2008 to commemorate the Columbia crew.^{[citation needed]}
• The Laurel Salton Clark Memorial Fountain in Racine, Wisconsin is named for her.^[16]
• In 2004, the Naval Aerospace Medicine Institute named its Aerospace Medicine Academic Center in
  Pensacola after Clark and David M. Brown^[17]
• Clark Auditorium at Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, Bethesda, Maryland is named for her and displays uniforms, training manuals, and personal items that belonged to her.^[citation needed]
• The Scottish band Runrig pays tribute to Clark on the 2016 album The Story. The final track, "Somewhere", ends with a recording of her voice.^[18] Clark was a Runrig fan and had a wake up call with Runrig's "Running to the Light". She took their 2001 The Stamping Ground CD into space with her. When the shuttle disintegrated the CD was found back on Earth, and was presented to the band by her family.
• Northrop Grumman named a Cygnus cargo spacecraft S.S. Laurel Clark.^[19]

References