Marcellus alumnus donates astronaut book to DMS Media Center

Amber native and 1983 Marcellus graduate David Seymour returned to his alma mater for the first time in more than three decades on Nov. 20, to donate copies of “Spacewalker,” a book penned by his friend and John F. Kennedy Space Center colleague, retired astronaut Jerry L. Ross.

“I haven’t been back in 30 years,” Mr. Seymour said as he looked around the bookshelf-lined walls of the C.S. Driver Middle School library. “I miss this place.”

Mr. Seymour now lives in New Smyrna Beach, Florida, and works as an assistant director of operations and astronaut rescue team leader for NASA. During the space shuttle program, which ended after Atlantis’ final mission in 2011, he was among those who manned emergency landing sites in Morocco, Gambia and the south of France, in case something went awry during a shuttle launch. He’s now helping to draft rescue procedures for Orion, the space program’s newest craft designed to take humans farther than they’ve ever gone before. He said Orion will have its first unmanned test flight Dec. 4, to try out its heat shields, parachutes and other critical safety equipment.

He said he hopes plenty of Marcellus students will take the time to read “Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA’s Record-Setting Frequent Flyer” and maybe even consider a career with the space program. Mr. Seymour delivered two copies of the book, one to the DMS library and one to Marcellus High School.

The author is a veteran of seven U.S. Space Shuttle missions.