Linda M. Godwin - NASA Career

NASA Career

Godwin joined NASA in 1980, in the Payload Operations Division, Mission Operations Directorate, where she worked in payload integration (attached payloads and Spacelabs), and as a flight controller and payloads officer on several Space Shuttle missions.

Selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate in June 1985, Godwin became an astronaut in July 1986. Her technical assignments have included working with flight software verification in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), and coordinating mission development activities for the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS), deployable payloads, and Spacelab missions. She also has served as Chief of Astronaut Appearances, Chief of the Mission Development Branch of the Astronaut Office and as the astronaut liaison to its Educational Working Group, Deputy Chief of the Astronaut Office, and Deputy Director, Flight Crew Operations Directorate. Godwin is currently the Assistant to the Director for Exploration, Flight Crew Operations Directorate at the Johnson Space Center.

A veteran of four space flights, Godwin has logged over 38 days in space, including over ten EVA hours in two spacewalks . In 1991 she served as a Mission Specialist on STS-37, was the Payload Commander on STS-59 in 1994, flew on STS-76 in 1996, a Mir docking mission, and served on STS-108/International Space Station Flight UF-1 in 2001.