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For release: 06/25/03
Release #: 03-099

'Sister Act' from Rocket City follows dreams to support International
Space Station

Ever since they visited the Marshall Center's space museum as little
girls, Rita Sutton and Roxanna Sherwin knew they wanted to be a part
of the space program. Today, the two sisters work on the console
support team for the International Space Station, reviewing and
sending procedures to crews orbiting more than 200 miles above Earth.

When Gloria Cade Reiswig was single-handedly raising her two
daughters in the 1960s, she didn't know she was contributing to the
future exploration of space.

Rita Sutton and Roxanna Sherwin grew up along with America's space
program, which was just beginning at NASA's Marshall Space Flight
Center in their hometown of Huntsville, Ala.

"When I was a kid, my mother took us to visit the space museum with
the rocket displays, pictures and history of Redstone Arsenal,"
Sutton said. "She made sure my sister and I watched when Americans
landed on the Moon. When I saw Neil Armstrong take those first steps,
I knew something special was happening and that Huntsville would be a
big part of that history." 

And so did her big sister, Roxanna.

"Our mother encouraged our curiosity, so it was only natural that we
wanted to be part of the greatest exploration of the 20th century,"
said Roxanna. "We know Mother is proud that we are now supporting
research on the International Space Station that will help not only
improve astronaut health in space but also will provide fundamental
knowledge that improves medical treatments on Earth."

Both sisters are living their dream by working with the International
Space Station - the orbiting laboratory being built by NASA and 15
international partner nations. Rita and Roxanna work in NASA's
Payload Operations Center - the command post at the Marshall Center
for all science activities onboard the Space Station.

To this day, the sisters claim "dual citizenship" in Huntsville, and
in the small Alabama town of Opp, just south of Montgomery, where
they spent their early childhood. In 1964, their mother decided to
take her daughters to Huntsville for a better job with RCA and
provide the girls with more opportunities. The sisters would return
to Opp each summer to spend time with their grandparents, James and
Wilma Cade. 

"Being from a small town gives you certain perspectives and
advantages. Opp is that sleepy kind of town that is the complete
opposite of Huntsville," Rita recalled. "Opp offered security and
Huntsville offered excitement, to young girls anyway. That bouncing
back and forth gave you the best of both worlds."

They both went on to graduate from Butler High School in Huntsville,
and Athens State College in Athens, Ala. - Rita with a bachelor's
degree in psychology and history, Roxanna with a bachelor's degree in
business management.

Although they took different paths in getting to NASA, the "sister
act" is now on the same "stage," working for the NASA support
contractor Teledyne Brown Engineering. Rita develops procedures
designed to help the Station crew operate a payload experiment and
works on the console support team sending science experiment
procedures to the astronauts and cosmonauts. Roxanna is the manager
for the Operations and Integration team that supports Payload
Operations Directors - the payload version of a Space Shuttle Flight
Director. 

Roxanna had moved to Houston, Texas, in 1978 to work with the Space
Shuttle program at Johnson Space Center after getting her career
started as a cooperative education student in mechanical engineering
for the Army at the Redstone Arsenal. Rita got a later start,
choosing first to home-school her three daughters before joining the
space program in January 2000. 

But don't think just because Rita's job is focused on the future and
the unknown, she isn't interested in preserving the past. In fact,
she spends her spare time quilting, crocheting and making her own
fishing rods - not to mention enjoying life with her husband,
Charles.

When she's not helping to support crews in space, Roxanna works as a
hospice volunteer, helping families cope with end-of-life issues.
This is near to her heart, since her mother suffers from pulmonary
fibrosis - a progressive lung disease - and is under hospice care.

"Contributing is very important to our mother, and is a lesson we
took to heart," Roxanna said. "Contributing to our family, our
community and our society have always been in our background. You
could look at our jobs as a method of contributing. The information
being gathered from research on the Station is for us, for our
families." 

This family tradition doesn't stop at the sisters, though. It
continues on with Roxanna's daughter Chrissy, and son-in-law, Scott
Stinson, who both work at the Johnson Space Center. Chrissy supports
the Astronaut office and Scott works to get all of the equipment
required up to the Station. Rita's son-in-law, Scott Reeves, a
hardware engineer at the Marshall Center, ensures that the Space
Station Ground Systems are reliably designed, integrated, and
collecting data. 

Gloria Reiswig's dedication to family and education is even reflected
in this second generation. Each grandchild has been told from
childhood that an education is a privilege not a right, and that it
must be earned and cherished.

Both sisters take pride in the way their mother has contributed to
the space industry by directing her side of the family tree to grow
toward the Sun - and reach for the stars.

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