LAWRENCE — A former astronaut with an Ottawa connection will mark the 25th anniversary of the launch of NASA’s oldest operating space shuttle. Kansas University professor Steven Hawley will reunite Saturday with some of his crewmates on the first mission of the Discovery. Hawley served as mission specialist and flight engineer on Discovery’s first mission that successfully deployed three communications satellites. Discovery’s first mission also included the first IMAX camera in space. Highlights of the mission were included in the popular film “The Dream is Alive.” Hawley, Charles Walker and commander Henry Hartsfield, Jr., will take part in a roundtable discussion concerning the mission at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hhutchinson. The event is free and open to the public and afterwards, the astronauts will sign autographs and meet those who attend. Hawley was aboard the Discovery three times.
