Has space lost its sparkle? Not for these two suburbanites who will be bringing the space shuttle home today.(News)

0 Comments | Daily Herald (Arlington Heights, IL), June, 2007 | by Constable, Burt

Byline: Burt Constable Daily Herald Columnist bconstable@@dailyherald.com As a kid growing up in Schaumburg, Cathy Koerner liked her space. Outer space. She played with the space control center activity set she got for Christmas when she was 4 years old. She joined in her father's love of science fiction books and TV shows.

In her senior year at Schaumburg High School, she even wrote a letter to her future self asking if she were working at NASA. Now, Koerner is the lead shuttle flight director in Mission Control, overseeing today's return to earth of the space shuttle Atlantis' after a dangerous mission to the International Space Station. "Everyone who works here is so dedicated to working in human space flight and preserving human space flight,"...