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As the sun rose Thursday over Cape Canaveral, Baneza Montalvo and Mayra Rojas watched the Space Shuttle Atlantis arc over Florida for the last time. The craft deployed its parachute and came to rest at 6 a.m., marking the end of the shuttle program's 30-year run after 135 missions to space.
"Seeing the shuttle come back is amazing," Montalvo said. "It's sad. I wanted to see more."
She and Rojas are Wendover High School sophomores who traveled to Florida this week, joining mathematics teacher Carolyn Bushman to witness the landing as official guests of Sandra Magnus, one of the four astronauts aboard the final mission.
"It's a dream come true for me to have students get a chance to see this," said Bushman, who helped establish her school's relationship with NASA through the space agency's "Explorer Schools" program. Thanks to that connection, Magnus has visited the school in the west desert casino town, addressing students at assemblies and the 2009 commencement, when she returned a banner the school had given her to hang in the International Space Station for her 134-day tour in orbit.
"I thought, I'm an ordinary girl in an ordinary town, and becoming an astronaut happens to someone else, not to someone like me," Magnus told students then. "But I didn't want to live a life where I looked back and asked, 'What if?' and have to wonder what it would have been like."
Her words have left a deep impact on some students, particularly girls.
One is recent graduate Esmeralda Arreola, who would have attended the Atlantis landing or the July 8 launch were it not for her summer internship with NASA in California.
Magnus holds a doctorate in materials science and engineering and designed military aircraft before NASA selected her to be an astronaut in the 1990s. Arreola credited the astronaut for inspiring her to study science, which she says may lead to a career in space exploration.
"She inspired me to reach for the stars and do the impossible," Arreola said. "She said STEM — science, technology, engineering, math — are important areas of research and she advised us to pursue these areas. Our school was fairly small, so it would be a big transition from a small school to go out and do big things."
NASA's INSPIRE program enabled Arreola to develop projects online and compete for coveted student opportunities. She is now completing her second summer internship at NASA's Ames Research Center, northwest of San Jose, then moves to Logan next month to enter Utah State University as a physics major on a four-year scholarship. She is learning about nanotechnology that could be used in upcoming unmanned trips to the planets.
The three Wendover students spent a week in Florida last November for Space Shuttle Discovery's final launch, which they missed because the launch was postponed. Still, visiting Kennedy and meeting astronauts whetted their appetites to learn more and come back, according to their blog entries.
"If you experience things personally, you learn more. We got up at 1 a.m., left the hotel at 2 and got to the space center at 3. We're really tired, but it's worth it," Rojas said Thursday. "I want to explore new things. I plan on studying engineering or medicine."
Bushman has been in Florida most of the month, arriving for the Atlantis launch with two other students. Bushman's groups joined several former astronauts and Magnus family members in a special viewing area for both the launch and landing. Student Martha Dominguez got to speak with Wendy Lawrence, who flew the first mission following the 2003 Columbia disaster.
"It is broadening their horizons and inspiring them to look for career opportunities," Bushman said. "I just watched her blossom. This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. It is such an honor to be here at the end of the shuttle program."
Bushman says she will return to Florida to witness the Aug. 5 launch of Juno, which will explore Jupiter. But this time, she'll be just a regular visitor.