The recipient of the 2008 NSCAA Honorary All-America award is out of this world.

Literally.

Dr. Sandra Magnus, this year’s honoree, is a NASA astronaut who currently is in orbit as a flight engineer on the International Space Station as part of Expedition 18. Her current mission began on Nov. 14, 2008, when the space shuttle Endeavour lifted off from the Kennedy Space Flight Center. She is scheduled to remain on the ISS until the end of February.

Magnus is the third astronaut to receive the NSCAA’s Honorary All-America award. The inaugural award was presented in 1972 to Col. William Anders. The lunar module pilot for the Apollo 8 mission, Anders was part of the first crew to orbit the Moon. In 1991, Sonny Carter was the second astronaut to receive the honor. A former professional soccer player for the NASL’s Atlanta Chiefs, Carter was a member of the crew of STS-33 in 1989. The award is presented to those who have brought particular distinction to soccer through their efforts within and beyond the boundaries of the sport.

A native of Belleville, Ill., Magnus began playing soccer while in the fifth grade. She played in the Belle-Claire Soccer League. Her father coached her, her two sisters and her brother, learning about the sport and growing to love it as he went.

“My dad’s dedication to soccer is something I’ll always remember,” Magnus said. “The lessons I learned in soccer directly translate to life as an astronaut, especially in the areas of teamwork and learning about strengths and weaknesses. As a soccer player, you can’t stay in negative space if something doesn’t go well. That’s the same mentality you must have as an astronaut.”

After graduating from Belleville West High School in 1982, Magnus enrolled at the Missouri University of Science and Technology (then known as University of Missouri-Rolla), which was launching a women’s soccer team that fall. She tried out as a walk-on and made the team, ending up as a four-year starter and earning a scholarship. She was inducted into the school’s athletic hall of fame in 2003.

Magnus earned a bachelor’s degree in physics and a master’s degree in electrical engineering in Rolla. She also holds a doctorate in materials science and engineering from Georgia Tech, received in 1996.

Selected by NASA in April 1996, she reported to Houston’s Johnson Space Center in August of that year. Her duties have included working with the Russian space agency in support of hardware testing and operational products development. Her first trip into space was aboard the shuttle Atlantis in October 2002, serving as a mission specialist.

“You’re constantly learning new things as an astronaut,” said Magnus. Included in that are new languages. She is conversant in three languages and says she has “dabbled” in three others. Being multi-lingual is vital to her work on the ISS, where she is sharing space with an American and a Russian. Her replacement on the ISS is from Japan.

“Our biggest task during the mission is to set up the space station to receive three more crew members, which will increase the number of crew members to six,” Magnus said. A key task is the installation of a water regeneration system, which will allow the ISS to reprocess all of the water on the station rather than being dependent on deliveries from the shuttle. Also on the to-do list for Magnus’s orbital home improvement project are installing new exercise equipment, another toilet and additional sleep stations.

A veteran of one shuttle mission, Magnus said adapting to sleeping in the weightlessness of space is a challenge.
“You have to get used to the feeling of not having a bed under you,” she said. “It feels like you’re falling all the time. When you return to Earth and experience gravity again for the first time, you realize just how much you have to work to perform the simplest of tasks.”

Soccer remains a part of Magnus’s life. During each of her career, whenever she’s moved to a new city she’s always sought out a team to play with; however, her cleats went on the shelf in November 2007. Following NASA policy, she suspended playing to avoid a potential injury that would have prevented her from flying to the space station. But it’s not a permanent retirement.

“I’m going to start up again after the mission,” she said.

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