“On A Mission: From Augusta’s Green to the Galaxy” was the theme for the Augusta Metro Chamber’s 115th Annual Meeting, Thursday night.
The yearly gathering of chamber members, celebrating the achievements of Augusta businesses, boasted a sold-out crowd of more than 600 guests at the Augusta Marriott Convention Center, and featured NASA Astronaut Susan Kilrain as its keynote speaker.
An Augusta native, Kilrain had received her master’s degree in aerospace engineering from Georgia Tech and served in the Navy as a test pilot, eventually being awarded a Defense Superior Service Medal, before being selected to join NASA in 1995.
She flew two space missions in 1997, spending approximately 20 days total in space, and becoming one of three women, and the youngest person, to have piloted the space shuttle. Her husband is retired Vice Adm. Colin Kilrain, who served as the associate director for military affairs for the CIA.
Susan Kilrain surveyed her biography in her address, including her time at Langford Junior High, now Langford Middle School, and publicly thanked her old algebra teacher, Sarah Brown, for helping spark a passion for mathematics.
She spoke about earning her pilot’s license at 17, by which time she had already decided she wanted to be an astronaut.
“Now mind you, there were no women astronauts at the time,” said Kilrain, noting how apprehensive she was about telling her father, renowned surgeon Dr. Joseph Still, about her aspirations. “All the women in my life were secretaries, teachers, nurses stay at home moms.”
Dr. Still would ultimately give his daughter his blessing. He observed that, after Kilrain’s first shuttle launch, for years she had been referred to as “Dr. Still’s daughter,” and now he was addressed as “Susan Still’s dad.”
That first mission, STS-83, was in April of 1997. Technical difficulties forced the flight to end early and land right before the Masters, when Tiger Woods won his first major. The mission resumed in July of that year, renamed STS-94.
Kilrain said she didn’t have time to be nervous while flying the mission, being too focused on monitoring engines, switches and electrical systems.
“It wasn’t until we got onboarded and the engine shut down and I took off my seatbelt that actually looked out the window and realized what just happened: I had flown in space,” she said. “All of our science was dedicated to making life here on Earth better.”
The chamber posthumously honored Joseph Still with the Lester S. Moody Award, which it presents for significant lifetime achievements and contributions to the community. The previous award was to businessman and former Augusta Commissioner Don Grantham in 2017.
Still, who died in 2006, founded what would become the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital in 1978, one of the world’s leading burn treatment facilities. He also founded the Southeastern Firefighters’ Burn Foundation, which became the Burn Foundation of America, a nonprofit that supports burn victims and their families.
Kilrain accepted the award on behalf of her later father, saying, “I told you he was a good guy.”
Skyler Q. Andrews is a staff reporter for The Augusta Press. Reach him at skyler@theaugustapress.com.
