Stott is one of seven astronauts set to fly into orbiton space shuttle Discovery in less than two weeks. When the shuttle returns, she'll stay behind for afour-month tour of duty on the International Space Station.
And she's not the first Clearwater High School graduate to make a trek into the stars.
When Steve Griffin first met astronaut Nicole Stott, her name was Nikki Passonno. And while she'll soon be wearing an advanced spacesuit as she works outside the most complex flying object ever built, Griffin says the only awesome equipment around when they met was a set of monkey bars.
He still remembers her from the playground at Plum Elementary in Clearwater. They were in first grade. Griffin says seeing her now, set to soar into space, would seem like a made-up story -- except he's seen the effort and energy Stott has poured into this goal over the past 20 years.
Griffin graduated in 1980 from Clearwater High, in the same ceremony as his high-flying friend Passonno.
She's now Nicole Stott; Griffin says she married a rocket scientist she met in astronaut training.
Stott learned to fly -- and even build -- airplanesat Clearwater Airpark, but Griffin says space didn't become her passion until college.
And while she's a hard-working perfectionist, Griffin says she's also very, umm, down to earth. If you had to pick her out of a hundred people at a picnic, Griffin said, quot;you wouldn't be able to tell she's the astronaut.quot;
Stott will be packing along a pair of articles from her alma mater during her four-month stay on the space station. She'll carry a grey t-shirt with a red quot;Clearwaterquot; and a stylized tornado on it. She'll also take a square red flag marked with the school's crest.
Once Stott lands, her flag will join another one in the school's trophy room. That's because Clearwater High has produced not one -- but two astronauts.Bruce Melnick flew on two shuttles in the early '90's.
For Principal Keith Mastorides, that shows potentially powerful futures ahead for his students.
The odds against two astronauts coming from the same high school are impressive. There are around 19,000 high schools in the U.S., and only about 315 Americans have flown in space. So, already, you have less than a two percent chance of a single space veteran sharing your high school heritage.
Stott'sshuttle flight is currently scheduled for an early morning launch at 1:58 a.m. on August 24th, although that date may slide later when mission managers meet Tuesday to set the official launch time.Connect with 10 Connects multi-media journalist Grayson Kamm on Twitter as @graysonkamm, by e-mail at this link, or on AOL Instant Messenger as screen name GraysonConnects./>
