UC Davis alumna Tracy Caldwell, who earned her doctorate here in 1997, lifted off Aug. 8 on the space shuttle Endeavour and docked two days later at the International Space Station.

Watching her at the launch site in Florida were two of her former UC Davis professors, Shirley Chiang of physics and Don Land of chemistry.

Caldwell is UC Davis' second astronaut. She is colleagues with alumnus Steve Robinson, the 2005 Discovery astronaut who made international headlines that summer when he repaired the shuttle's heat shield. Robinson, who earned his bachelor's of science in mechanical and aeronautical engineering in 1978, flew on missions in 1997, 1998 and 2005.

Caldwell's first space mission is set to last 11 days. The crew delivered supplies and a truss segment to the Space Station. As Dateline went to press, NASA officials were still deciding whether to repair several of the shuttle tiles that were damaged during the launch.

A mission specialist, Caldwell's responsibilities include activating a robotic arm to grab the truss, unberth it and hand it over to the space station.

Caldwell might never have joined NASA if it were not for a list she wrote as a high school junior in Arcadia. Unsure what she wanted to be, she made a list of all the things she enjoyed doing — working with tools with her father, an electrician; taking her motorcycle apart; teamwork; running track; studying languages.

Then, she was inspired by the story of teacher Christa McAuliffe, who in 1986 was the first teacher to go into space.

"It was fascinating to me that she was a teacher. I started looking into the astronaut program and discovered you didn't have to be a hot-shot military pilot. There were also mission specialists who were scientists and engineers who seemed to be interested in the same things I was," she said.

When the space shuttle Challenger exploded after takeoff in 1986, it did not deter Caldwell. "Even after the accident, I had this feeling I needed to be doing this," she said.

(Also on board the Endeavor's mission is Barbara Morgan, a teacher who was backup to Christa McAuliffe in the 1980s and is now fully trained as a mission specialist.)

Caldwell received her bachelor's degree in chemistry from California State University Fullerton in 1993.

William Jackson, professor emeritus and former chair of chemistry at UC Davis, met Caldwell when he visited Fullerton to meet with prospective students.

He has had long-running research grants from NASA for his work on comet composition, and he encouraged the budding astronaut to apply to UC Davis for her doctorate.

Caldwell began her studies at UC Davis in 1993, working mostly with professor Land in the Department of Chemistry and also with Chiang, professor and current chair of the physics department, and Charles (Chuck) Fadley, professor of physics.

"She came here knowing exactly what she wanted to do," Land said. "Tracy worked 10 to 14 hours a day, seven days a week for weeks on end, and it didn't bother her."

Land said Caldwell was very clear about her career goals. She told him that her goal was to be accepted for the astronaut program by NASA.

But Caldwell also found time for some activities apart from studying for her doctorate — albeit ones that would boost her credentials for NASA. She learned Russian and got her private pilot's license. She also volunteered as a sign-language translator.

Caldwell's research was in the area of heterocycle catalysis, which could be applied to developing cleaner fossil fuels or biofuels. Much of her work involved using powerful microscopes to study the surfaces of catalysts, including a couple of quarters working in Chiang's laboratory, building high-vacuum scanning/tunneling microscopes.

"She was a very hard worker, very focused," Chiang said.

After she submitted her dissertation in June 1997, Caldwell applied to the astronaut program while beginning postdoctoral research at UC Irvine.

To her surprise, she was selected in the first pass and entered the astronaut program in 1998. Her two-year training included tours of all the NASA facilities, intensive instruction in space shuttle and space station systems, ground school to prepare for flight training, plus water and wilderness survival training.

On Caldwell's voyage into space, she is carrying some tokens of UC Davis: a banner representing the Department of Chemistry and the university; and a medallion from the College of Letters and Science.

"I feel really blessed to be part of the space program," Caldwell said.

Christine Larson is a freelance writer living in Sacramento.