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www.wgu.edu – As a child, Laura Barber was convinced she was going to be an astronaut. She studied the stars, planets, moons and rockets. She slept with pictures of the Challenger crew around her bed. Even when she watched the shuttle explode in her grade school class, she wasn’t swayed. Laura took every class that her tiny rural school could provide and even took 6 am satellite-based math classes, knowing she was advancing her chances for success in college. In her sophomore or junior year, she got hold of an astronaut candidate application. It was the first real sorrow that dashed her dream. It stated that people applying to the program must be at least five feet, five inches tall and have nearly perfect eye sight. Laura was prescribed her first pair of glasses when she was five and at five feet, three inches tall, all the genetics for height went to her sisters. “In true teenage girl fashion, I was crushed. Everything I worked for was taken away,” said Laura. “But with a few reminders from teachers and my parents, I decided to focus on the science of the mission and not on the space flight so I could still be involved with space exploration.” She decided to attend Eastern Oregon University to study physics. She intended to continue her education in Fairbanks, Alaska, to study upper atmospheric physics and other topics related to the aurora. But life happened. She married her husband in her junior year and graduated while she was seven months pregnant with their first …