Women's History Month Shout Out

“In addition to the scientific aspects of her work, she made a substantial effort to communicate her enthusiasm to the public. After the Spacelab 2 mission she often gave presentations to adult and student audiences on her experiences, sometimes bringing along her flight suit. She received letters from all over the world from correspondents who had read of her role.” – From her Smithsonian and NASA obituary 

(1938-2002) Dianne Prinz retired from the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) after 29 years of service.  During her career, she supervised the team of scientists that was operating the SUSIM (Solar Ultraviolet Irradiance Monitor) experiment on the UARS (Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite) spacecraft.  SUSIM flew aboard the US Space Shuttle and a Spacelab 2 mission.  Dr. Prinz was selected as a payload specialist astronaut in 1978 but her slated flight was cancelled in the aftermath of the Challenger tragedy.  Dr. Prinz was the head of the Solar Radiation section at the NRL at the time of her death in 2002, when she succumbed to lymphatic cancer. 

Source: Harvard University