Photo: NASA / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Bonnie J. Dunbar is, frankly, someone I look up to. From small-town Sunnyside, Washington, to a master's in ceramics engineering, to five Space Shuttle flights including dockings with Mir, hers is a straight line of intellect and grit that few can match. The NASA Distinguished Service Medal and a place in the Astronaut Hall of Fame only underline the weight of her career. What moves me most is the engineering-first route to orbit; she did not just dream of space, she built her way there with hard science. As a trailblazer for women in technology, she made the impossible look like the logical next step, and I admire that enormously.
Overview
Bonnie Jeanne Dunbar (born March 3, 1949) is an American engineer and retired NASA astronaut. She flew on five Space Shuttle missions between 1985 and 1998, including two dockings with the Mir space station. A graduate of the University of Washington, where she earned a Master of Science degree in ceramics engineering, Dunbar became a senior research engineer in Rockwell International's Space Division, where she desi…
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Bonnie J. Dunbar
- Name (Japanese)
- ボニー・J・ダンバー
- Reading
- ぼにー・J・だんばー
- Born
- March 3, 1949 (age 77)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Pisces / Ox
- Origin
- Sunnyside, Washington, United States
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- Private
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- astronaut / engineer
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Sunnyside High School
- University
- University of Washington
Awards & achievements
- United States Astronaut Hall of Fame
- 2005 Society of Women Engineers Achievement Award
- 2000 Women in Technology Hall of Fame
- 1996 NASA Distinguished Service Medal
- 2001 Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh
- 2008 honorary doctorate
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Astronaut — see all → · Engineer — see all → · More people from United States →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.