On Jan. 16, Selma VanEyck, an assistant dean at the UW-Madison School of Medicine, watched the space shuttle Colombia launch at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida with her former student and friend, Laurel Clark, aboard.
\It's very, very dramatic,"" VanEyck said of the launch. ""The countdown is incredible and the lift-off is phenomenal ... I was scared. You have to be. [I thought,] please come home safely.""
Today, VanEyck is saddened by Clark's tragic fate, as the shuttle exploded upon re-entry to Earth Saturday morning.
Clark, who was on her first mission to space, received her undergraduate degree in zoology at UW-Madison in 1983 and her doctorate in medicine from UW-Madison in 1987. While she had not visited UW-Madison much since her graduation, Clark remained close with VanEyck and many of her medical school classmates, three of whom were also at the launch.
Clark, who was 42, entered the U.S. Navy after leaving UW-Madison to fulfill her obligation to the group who paid her medical school costs. According to VanEyck, Clark intended to become a pediatrician, but became interested in diving and underwater activities during her time in the Navy. These activities simulate weightlessness, leading Clark to develop an interest in astronomy.
""At her 10-year reunion, which was in 1997, I said to her 'Laurel, why are you still in the Navy?' and she said 'because I'm going to be an astronaut. My husband says if I don't try, I'll never know if I want to be one.' Shortly after that, she was accepted into that class,"" VanEyck said.
Colombia was originally scheduled to launch over the summer. Clark contacted Phil Certain, dean of the College of Letters and Science, to request some mementoes from the school for her space flight.
""She wanted to take a memento from her college experience into space with her,"" Certain said. ""So we provided an astronaut teddy bear with a Letters and Sciences jacket on it.""
Furthermore, Certain said Clark expressed interest in visiting to UW-Madison when she returned to Earth.
""The only time she had really come back to campus since she graduated was for the tenth reunion of her medical school class, so she was regretting not being back more often,"" Certain said. ""We were hoping she was going to come back and speak at commencement or meet with students somehow.""
Certain, who spoke with Clark at a press conference at UW-Madison in June, said students should emulate Clark's courage and love for life.
""I myself never thought about being an astronaut until I was in my thirties,"" Clark said at a press conference in June. ""I feel very fortunate every day that I've been chosen to do what I'm gonna go do. I think that sometimes life takes you in very unexpected ways.\
