Linda was recently featured in Slice of MIT, an MIT Alumni Association website. Linda graduated from MIT in 1971, and this year marks the Class of ’71 50th anniversary!

Former Space Shuttle Engineer Explores the Politics of Space

Linda (Getch) Dawson ’71 grew up during the height of the space race between the United States and the USSR. She recalls driving with her family from Massachusetts to a New Hampshire observatory to hear the beeping of the Soviet satellite Sputnik as it passed overhead. “It’s funny how your path takes different turns, but I always came back to that first love: aerospace,” she says. Dawson’s path took her from MIT to NASA, then into a second career as a teacher and a writer, earning her the nickname “Rocket Woman” from colleagues and journalists along the way.

Read the full story…

Jun 4, 2021 | Catherine Caruso SM ’16 | Slice of MIT

Also posted on Twitter:

When Linda (Getch) Dawson ’71 couldn’t find the best book on the history of space exploration, she published two of her own. @MIT_Engineering https://t.co/1mTa8nEDEU pic.twitter.com/c5KOpcL6hp

— MIT Alumni (@MIT_alumni) June 8, 2021