A Willmar woman is in Russia to watch her brother blast off for the International Space Station next week. Lisa Dawson is the sister of astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who lifts off September 13th on a five-and-a-half-month mission. She says, “It’s exciting and nerve-wracking. I haven’t traveled overseas for many, many years. I have kids, and so it feels a little unsettling leaving everybody home, but obviously how can I not go and watch my brother?” Dawson says her brother has been in quarantine in Russia leading up to the launch and wasn’t there when Hurricane Harvey devastated his hometown of Houston, but their home was apparently spared from flooding.
50-year-old Vande Hei received his degree in physics from Saint John’s University. He joined the Army and after retiring as a colonel went to work for NASA in 1999. Dawson says her brother applied to be an astronaut and completed training in 2011. “He’s very excited,” she says. “I think he still pinches himself every day that this is what he does for a living.”