by Sr. Barb Biver, ASC
The sisters at BLCS (Benedictine Living Community at the Shrine) had this opportunity on April 17 when Sandy Magnus visited her aunt who also lives at BLCS. Sandy grew up in Belleville, IL. As a kid, she always wanted to travel into space, but in her younger years, she knew women were not accepted into the program.
That changed as she was ready for high school, so she really focused her studies on the sciences. In college, her degree was in physics and then a doctorate in engineering. She applied and finally received the call from NASA for an interview and was accepted into the space program. Sandy made several trips into space and spent one month on the space station. A piece of trivia she shared: “the length of the space station is as long as a football field.”
Following her 30-minute presentation, she spent the rest of the hour answering questions from the residents. Sister Raphael Ann Drone asked her if she knew any of the astronauts who died in the Challenger shuttle or the Columbia shuttle explosions. Sandy was in high school at the time of the Challenger explosion as they headed into space. She didn’t know those astronauts personally, but she knew and was friends with the astronauts on the Columbia shuttle.
This was a difficult time for all at NASA. What helped her through her grief was the fact that her friends in the Columbia shuttle were able to experience being in outer space, which was not the case with the Challenger. These astronauts were able to experience God’s creation in another and very special way as they witnessed the beauties and the wonders of being in outer space and looking out the window to see Planet Earth.
