Mass. native is NASA's 2d black woman in space
In her hometown of Pittsfield, Stephanie D. Wilson was a quiet, wiry girl who ran track, played the clarinet in the high school band, and made the National Honor Society. Her classmates predicted she would go far, but few imagined just how far that distance would be.
Yesterday afternoon, the Boston-born and Harvard-educated Wilson blasted into orbit aboard the NASA space shuttle Discovery from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, bound with six other astronauts for the International Space Station. The smooth liftoff marked the first space shuttle flight in nearly a year, and the first-ever manned launch on Independence Day.
During the 12-day mission, the crew will deliver supplies and evaluate new safety procedures, and at least two space walks are planned.
As they awaited the much-anticipated launch, former friends, teachers, and classmates at Taconic High School in Pittsfield expressed amazement that one of their own had realized a starry-eyed childhood dream.
``We all have our professions and here she is, an astronaut," said Judith Giardina . ``We just think it's great."
Giardina said that although Wilson was known as very bright, she was still shocked when she heard the petite girl she graduated from high school with was headed for outer space.
It is Wilson's first trip into space, becoming the second black woman to take part in such a NASA mission.
Barbara Finn , 81, Wilson's fourth-grade teacher , was one of four Pittsfield elementary school teachers who was invited to the launch in Florida.
``She's just a wonderful kid and full of life and very focused, always has been," Finn said. ``She was just an all-around good student, the kind of student any teacher would love to have."
Wilson, 39, graduated from Harvard College in 1988, and received a master's degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas in 1992. She then went to work for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., before being selected for NASA in 1996. After two years training at the Johnson Space Center, she qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist, according to the NASA website.
In a preflight interview on the NASA website, Wilson said she was thankful for the support of her friends back home. ``The people there are very excited, and they've been very supportive of me," she said. ``I hope to have a chance, during our postflight appearances, to go back and thank the people there."
Life in Western Massachusetts helped spark her interest in outer space, she said in the interview.
``Well, I grew up in a small town in Massachusetts and all of the stars were very visible at night and so, I just looked up at the heavens and I thought it would be a nice way to fulfill my interest in space."
Peter Schworm of the Globe staff contributed to this report. Cristina Silva can be reached at csilva@globe.com. Michael Levenson can be reached at mlevenson@globe.com. 
