Wendy B. Lawrence was a United States Navy helicopter pilot and a NASA astronaut who served on four Space Shuttle missions.

Wendy Berrien Lawrence was born on July 2, 1959 at the naval hospital at Naval Air Station Jacksonville, Florida. Her father, Vice Admiral William P. Lawrence, was a naval aviator and a finalist for the Mercury space program. Her mother, Anne Lawrence, was a preschool teacher. Her grandfather MacPherson B. Williams was also a Naval aviator. As a child, Lawrence was inspired by the Apollo 11 Moon landing to pursue a career as an astronaut. In 1977, a year after Congress authorized the admission of women to the service academies, Lawrence entered the U.S. Naval Academy at Annapolis, Maryland. She graduated in 1981 with a bachelor’s degree in ocean engineering. She earned her naval aviator designation in 1982 and afterwards served with Helicopter Combat Support Squadron 6 (HC-6) in the Indian Ocean. In 1988, she earned a Master of Science in ocean engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI). Her next assignment was with Helicopter Anti-Submarine Squadron Light 30 (HSL-30), where she served as officer-in-charge of Detachment ALFA. As a Boeing-Vertol H-46 pilot, she provided logistical support for oceanographic surveying. In 1990, Lawrence returned to the Naval Academy as an instructor, teaching physics, leadership, and underwater acoustics. She also coached the novice women’s crew team.

In 1992, Lawrence was selected by NASA as an astronaut candidate (ASCAN). After undergoing training at the Johnson Space Center in Texas, she embarked on her first space mission, STS-67 (March 2-18, 1995), aboard the Space Shuttle Endeavour. Afterwards, she served as Director of Operations for NASA at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center in Star City, Russia as part of the Shuttle-Mir program. In 1997, she participated in STS-86 (September 25-October 6, 1997), a docking mission between the Space Shuttle Atlantis and the Mir space station. The following year, she served aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery during STS-91 (June 2-12, 1998), another Shuttle-Mir docking mission and the final mission for NASA’s Phase I preparations for the International Space Station. During this mission, the Shuttle crew delivered the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer, a module used to measure antimatter.

From July 26 to August 9, 2005, Lawrence participated in her fourth and final spaceflight mission, STS-114, again serving aboard the Discovery. The first spaceflight mission following the Columbia disaster in February 2003, STS-114’s primary mission objective was to test and evaluate new safety procedures for the Space Shuttle. During this mission, Lawrence had the opportunity to serve under Commander Eileen Collins, who had made history in 1999 as the first female shuttle commander.

Lawrence retired from NASA in 2006, with a cumulative total of over 1,200 hours spent in space.

After her retirement, Lawrence continued to be strong advocate of STEM education, particularly for young women, and worked part-time at Space Camp and the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. She also served on the University of Washington Bothell Advisory Board. Lawrence is married to Cathy Watson, a former NASA scientist. As of 2026, she was still living the in the Seattle, Washington area.

Biographical information derived from interview, from additional information provided by interviewee, and from the following online sources:

National Air and Space Administration. “STS-86 Biographies.” NASA History. Accessed December 19, 2019. https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4225/documentation/mission-summaries/sts86/biographies/biographies.htm#lawrence.

University of Washington Bothell. “University of Washington Bothell Advisory Board: 2019-20 Members.” Accessed December 19, 2019. https://www.uwb.edu/chancellor/advisoryboard.