OUT TO LAUNCH

A trip to Florida sounds like an average vacation to some, taking time out of their busy schedules for a little fun in the sun.

But for Johnny and Judy Blackwell there would be no working on their tans or swimming in the blue waters off the Florida coast. This was an opportunity for the couple to witness history — and their daughter was a part of it.

Gaffney native Charlene Blackwell-Thompson became the first female NASA test director Friday, making sure the space shuttle Endeavour's STS-126 mission got off the ground smoothly. The Endeavour lit up the Florida sky shortly before 7 p.m. (CST) bound for the International Space Station to repair the function of its solar array rotary joint and prepare the station to hold up to six crew members for long-duration missions. Four space walks are also planned.

Judy Blackwell spent most of the day trying to calm her nerves, hoping the launching of the shuttle would go smoothly.

"I'm so jittery at this moment," Judy Blackwell said in the hours immediately preceding the launch. "But that's how a mother is; we worry a bit. But she knows what she's doing and deserves to be in the position she is in."

Thompson, a 1983 graduate of Gaffney High and Clemson University in 1988 with a degree in computer engineering, joined NASA in 2004 as a NASA test director in the Launch and Landing Division in the Space Shuttle Processing Directorate.

She was one of three certified assistant NASA test directors responsible for leading the shuttle team during the planning, scheduling and execution of the shuttle launch countdown prior to Friday's liftoff.

To prepare for her brush with history, Thompson spent four missions in the assistant's chair, making sure her skills were sharp in the areas of launch procedures, countdown schedules and other planning strategies.

Johnny and Judy Blackwell kept in close contact with their daughter in the weeks leading up to the shuttle launch, making sure plans for the mission were still a go. The couple would not make the trip alone, finding other family members like Margaret Price to tag along.

"It was an eight hour drive, but it was worth it," Price said. "This was more than a vacation, it's a proud moment for our family as well as Gaffney because it was a hometown girl who accomplished it."

The Endeavour arrived at the International Space Station on Sunday. The shuttle is expected to return next week.