[Music] i first met carolyn huntoon in 1986 it was the year i first started working at nasa as a postdoctoral fellow her research in the neuroendocrine system in space was incredibly important it was groundbreaking research that helped us understand how the body and this systems are changing when they go into space considered one of the foremost scientists in the united states carolyn leech huntoon made history in 1994 as the first woman director of nasa's johnson space center in houston [Music] she played an essential role in leading an organization that carried out some of what are arguably the greatest scientific and engineering feats that human beings have ever been organized to carry out together carolyn grew up in the small central louisiana town of leesville her parents were lucille godwin leach and anthony claude leach she was the youngest of six siblings and it was taught to her from an early age that they were responsible for her and she was responsible for them she graduated in 1958 from leesville high school and attended northwestern state university in natchitoches majoring in biology and medical technology it was while pursuing a master of science and doctorate degree at baylor college of medicine that she met one of the principal investigators for the gemini spacecraft medical experiments it was a connection that led to her working at nasa as a pioneer in human life science research huntoon created and supervised projects in the apollo sky lab and space shuttle programs and it wasn't long before she became involved in recruiting women for the space programs my mom continued to mentor the women who joined the astronaut class on the next street over from my house is where sally ride lived should often come by our house this was before sally was selected as america's first woman in space seeing a young astronaut who was you know really needing mentorship and that she came to my mom and my mom was able to help her carolyn i think is a trendsetter that has enabled a lot of women to really do a lot more as a rising star through the ranks of nasa she was recognized internationally as a leader on issues of aerospace medicine and worked in collaboration with the soviet space program this was at a time when relations between the us and the ussr were were not good and yet in the sort of common spirit of science and the scientific method and experimentation these scientists got together i had no real experience in international negotiations or what that would take so it was a big door opening for me in terms of learning new things and challenging myself which is actually what i really credit carolyn for for teaching me it was during huntoon's time as associate director of the johnson space center that the shuttle challenger shattered just 73 seconds from takeoff my mom had been responsible for selecting many of the astronauts that died in that mission our entire community and really the entire country was grieving over the loss of these individuals my mom's leadership particularly during times of difficulty at the johnson space center was inspirational she's an incredible leader obviously and an incredible mentor especially to me i think her strength in being a mentor is challenging you to do something more than you think you might be able to and that's what she gave me following her time at nasa dr huntoon served presidents george w bush and bill clinton as the department of energy's assistant secretary for environmental management in that job she oversaw the cleanup of over 100 of the nation's nuclear sites thinking back to the fact that my grandfather you know had a plumbing business and uh had dropped out of school in third grade that's really uh it's kind of a remarkable american dream story married in the summer of 1969 carolyn lee chuntoon and her husband harrison recently celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on a mediterranean cruise with their daughter sally her husband michael and granddaughters lucy and sophia carolyn recently lost her loving husband after his brave battle with parkinson's our prayers are with carolyn and her family [Music] you