OAK RIDGE VOICES PRIDE IN GODWIN

OAK RIDGE -- Space shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to glide to a landing today, carrying back to Earth an astronaut who has brought a modest sense of pride to this small, Cape Girardeau County town.

Linda Godwin of near Oak Ridge and the rest of Atlantis' five-member crew are expected to touch down in the spaceplane at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., at about 10:35 a.m. The landing will cap a five-day mission, the primary goal of which was to deploy a 17-ton Gamma Ray Observatory satellite Sunday.

Godwin, 38, served as a main player in the satellite's deployment when she used a 50-foot robot arm to carry out the task from the shuttle's crew cabin. The $617 million astronomy satellite's mission will be to study the universe's most violent stars and galaxies.

"I'm very proud of her that she's a native of Oak Ridge, that she's done this," Oak Ridge Postmaster Wilma Dailey said Tuesday. "I don't know her personally, but I know everyone around here has been enthused about it. I just hope that they can have a safe landing."

Quite a few people who have come into the post office to buy stamps or drop off mail have talked about Godwin, Dailey said.

Linda Seabaugh used to know Godwin well. The Oak Ridge High School business teacher figures she probably hasn't seen Godwin since she herself graduated from Jackson High School, where Godwin attended classes a couple of years behind Seabaugh.

"I had a locker next to her and her twin sister, Judy," said Seabaugh, also a junior-high math teacher. "In fact, it was for two or three years that we had lockers next to each other."

Godwin, who lived in the Jackson School District, attended Jackson High School.

Talk of Godwin among the Oak Ridge students comes and goes, said Seabaugh. But Seabaugh said she thinks it's great that someone like Godwin can go about fulfilling a dream.

Said Seabaugh, "Around here the kids think fulfilling a dream is always for someone we don't know, and when they found out (Godwin) is someone they know, and she's gotten this far, they see that there is hope for them too."

A junior at Oak Ridge High School, Heath McLane said it makes him proud that Oak Ridge is being mentioned in the news.

"I think it's nice that someone from the community has gotten that far," he said in a break from Seabaugh's business-law class.

As owner of the Oak Ridge Market at the junction of routes E and D, Arlene Curry said she has heard a few people talking about how nice it is for Godwin to be an astronaut aboard the shuttle.

Standing behind a coral-colored freezer filled with cheese and cold-cuts, Curry, a resident of Oak Ridge since 1979, said she never met Godwin personally. Nonetheless, she said she thinks Godwin's achievements are great.

"My boys want to be up there," she said, referring to two of her three sons, ages 12 and 16, who still live at home.

(Some information for this story was provided by United Press International.)