Physicist-astronaut Kathryn C. Thornton, scheduled for launch Wednesday aboard the shuttle Discovery, is the first female and one of only two civilians ever assigned to a military shuttle flight.
But because of the clandestine nature of the 32nd shuttle mission, pre-launch interviews with Discovery's five-member crew were forbidden and Thornton's primary responsibility during the mission was not known.
An expert in nuclear physics who once studied at the Max Planck Institute in Heidelberg, West Germany, Thornton was born and raised in Montgomery, Ala., where she graduated from Lanier High School in 1970.
Thornton, 37, began her physics career with a bachelor of science degree from Auburn University in 1974. She went on to earn a master's degree and a doctorate in physics from the University of Virginia in 1977 and 1979, respectively.
While in graduate school, Thornton did research in nuclear physics at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory, the Brookhaven National Laboratory, the Indiana University Cyclotron Facility and the Space Radiation Effects Laboratory.
After the completion of her doctorate, the future astronaut was awarded a NATO Postdoctoral Fellowship, allowing her to continue her research at the Max Planck Institute for Nuclear Physics in West Germany.
Thornton returned to the United States in 1980 and was hired by the U.S. Army Foreign Science and Technology Center in Charlottesville, Va.
Four years later, in May 1984, Thornton was selected by NASA to become an astronaut. Before her selection for Discovery's crew, she worked in NASA's Mission Development Branch and the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory.
Thornton and Discovery crewmate F. Story Musgrave, 54, a physician-astronaut, are the first civilians named to a military shuttle flight. Sources said the Department of Defense protested the use of civilians on such a mission, but NASA refused to make a change.
The other members of Discovery's crew are commander Frederick Gregory, 48, and co-pilot John Blaha, 47 -- both Air Force colonels -- and Navy Capt. Manley Carter, 42.
Details about the seventh post-Challenger flight are classified, but sources have said the astronauts plan to launch a 6,000-pound military spy satellite and to conduct a variety of routine engineering and scientific experiments.
Thornton, born Kathryn Cordell, is married to Stephen Thornton of Oak Ridge, Tenn. She has two stepsons, Kenneth, 26, and Michael, 22, and two daughters: Carol Elizabeth, 7, and Laura Lee, 3.
An avid skier and scuba diver, Thornton is a member of the American Physical Society, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Sigma Xi, Phi Kappa Phi and Sigma Pi Sigma.
