Pittsfield’s hometown hero, astronaut Stephanie D. Wilson Day

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Stephanie D. Wilson, NASA Astronaut. Photo Courtesy of NASA
Itinerary 9:00 a.m. – 10:00 a.m. – Taconic High School (Stephanie to offer a presentation to Taconic Students along with students from Pittsfield High School and Reid and Herberg Middle Schools) 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. – Crosby Elementary School (Stephanie to present to Crosby students as well as students from other City elementary schools) **12:00 noon – Steps of City Hall, Stephanie to speak, along with musical, and dance performances, and more** **1:00 – 1:30 p.m. – City Council Chambers, Second Floor, City Hall, Stephanie to speak to the press** **In bold: the most press-friendly events, which will include a full sound board to tap into for television, radio, etc., provided by Pittsfield Public Television – in addition, the opportunity to ask Ms. Wilson questions in Council Chambers beginning at 1:00 p.m. Mayor James M. Ruberto today announced that Pittsfield’s hometown hero, astronaut Stephanie D. Wilson, will return home for public appearances on Tuesday, September 12, 2006. The visit comes on the heels of the successful Discovery Shuttle mission, in which Wilson became the second African-American woman in space. In the morning, Wilson will speak and interact with students at her alma mater Taconic High School, and will do the same at Crosby Elementary School. Ms. Wilson is a 1984 graduate of Taconic High School and she attended then-Crosby Middle School. The public is invited to an event at noon on the steps of City Hall to welcome Ms. Wilson. Aside from Ms. Wilson addressing her hometown, this extraordinary event will also include music by the Taconic and Pittsfield High School bands, local choirs, and performances by local dance groups. Mayor Ruberto is asking all businesses to recognize this important event, and to please allow employees the opportunity to come out and give Stephanie a warm, enthusiastic welcome home. Included is the official astronaut biography provided by NASA. Stephanie D. Wilson, NASA Astronaut PERSONAL DATA: Born in 1966 in Boston Massachusetts. Enjoys snow skiing, music, stamp collecting, and traveling. EDUCATION: Graduated from Taconic High School, Pittsfield, Massachusetts, in 1984; received a bachelor of science degree in engineering science from Harvard University in 1988, and a master of science degree in aerospace engineering from the University of Texas, in 1992. ORGANIZATIONS: American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. EXPERIENCE: After graduating from Harvard in 1988, Wilson worked for 2 years for the former Martin Marietta Astronautics Group in Denver, Colorado. As a Loads and Dynamics engineer for Titan IV, Wilson was responsible for performing coupled loads analyses for the launch vehicle and payloads during flight events. Wilson left Martin Marietta in 1990 to attend graduate school at the University of Texas. Her research focused on the control and modeling of large, flexible space structures. Following the completion of her graduate work, she began working for the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, in 1992. As a member of the Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem for the Galileo spacecraft, Wilson was responsible for assessing attitude controller performance, science platform pointing accuracy, antenna pointing accuracy and spin rate accuracy. She worked in the areas of sequence development and testing as well. While at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Wilson also supported the Interferometery Technology Program as a member of the Integrated Modeling Team, which was responsible for finite element modeling, controller design, and software development. NASA EXPERIENCE: Selected by NASA in April 1996, Wilson reported to the Johnson Space Center in August 1996. Having completed two years of training and evaluation, she is qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist. She was initially assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Space Station Operations Branch to work with Space Station payload displays and procedures. She then served in the Astronaut Office CAPCOM Branch, working in Mission Control as a prime communicator with on-orbit crews. Following her work in Mission Control, Wilson was assigned technical duties in the Astronaut Office Shuttle Operations Branch involving the Space Shuttle Main Engines, External Tank and Solid Rocket Boosters. Wilson completed her first space flight on STS-121 in 2006 and has logged almost 13-days in space. SPACE FLIGHT EXPERIENCE: STS-121 (July 4-17, 2006), was a return-to-flight test mission and assembly flight to the International Space Station. During the 13-day flight the crew of Space Shuttle Discovery tested new equipment and procedures that increase the safety of space shuttles, repaired a rail car on the International Space Station and produced never-before-seen, high-resolution images of the Shuttle during and after its July 4th launch. Wilson operated the robotic arms on scheduled EVAs and was responsible for the transfer of more than 28,000 pounds of supplies and equipment to the ISS. The crew also performed maintenance on the space station and delivered a new Expedition 13 crew member to the station. The mission was accomplished in 306 hours, 37 minutes and 54 seconds.
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BVNA Nurses Raise Funds for Berkshire Bounty

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — The Massachusetts Nursing Association members of the Berkshire Visiting Nurses Association raised $650 to help with food insecurity in Berkshire County.
 
The nurses and health-care professionals of BVNA have given back to the community every holiday season for the last three years. The first year, they adopted a large family, raised money, bought, wrapped and delivered the gifts for the family. Last year, they sold raffle tickets and the money raised went to the charitable cause of the winner. 
 
This year, with food insecurity as a rising issue, they chose to give to Berkshire Bounty in Great Barrington.
 
They sold raffle tickets for a drawing to win one of two items: A lottery ticket tree or a gift certificate tree, each worth $100. They will be giving the organization the donation this month.
 
Berkshire Bounty seeks to improve food security in the county through food donations from retailers and local farms; supplemental purchases of healthy foods; distribution to food sites and home deliveries; and collaborating with partners to address emergencies and improve the food system. 
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