Astronaut to Scouts: Follow your dreams

Photo by Peter George, courtesy of Boeing Co.

Dr. Sandra (Sandy) Magnus, an astronaut on the international space station, fielded questions from a group of southern Illinois Girl Scouts who gathered today at the Boeing Co. headquarters near Lambert-St. Louis International Airport.

While Magnus took questions live satellite during the brief exchange, a small green soccer ball floated in the foreground and the River Bluffs (Girl Scouts) Council banner was visible behind her.

“Was there ever a time you felt like you couldn’t become an astronaut?” asked Courtney Meek, 18, of O’Fallon, Ill.

Yes, there were times during her life when she felt that way, Magnus said. It seemed out of reach for a young girl growing up in a small town. “It seemed like something that only other people got to do,” she said. ”I decided to try because I didn’t want to look back on my life and ask myself the question, ‘What if?’ … So I decided to try. And lo and behold it’s possible. So I want you guys to  remember that. I want you to believe in yourself. I want you to find out what your dream is and I want you to pursue it. … You can do whatever you put your mind to.”

“Do you have any pets on the space station?” asked Emily Ford, 10.

Unfortunately no, the Belleville native told the group of 120 scouts from the River Bluffs Council in Glen Carbon. “It would be interesting to see how cats and dogs interact with … zero gravity,” Magnus said.

“Do they have Girl Scout cookies in space?” asked Eden Sell, 15

No, Magnus said, you have to be careful about bringing food into space that creates crumbs. In space they can just explode into a cloud and get in your eyes, equipment and hair.

Magnus, 44, who worked as an engineer at then-McDonnell Douglas Aircraft Co. in St. Louis from 1986 to 1991, is finishing her 3 1/2-month stint on the international space station and is expected to return to Earth by shuttle by late February.