Retired NASA Astronaut and University of Missouri Professor Emerita Linda Godwin, Ph.D., spoke at the annual My Missouri lecture at the State Historical Society of Missouri on Oct. 24, 2026. Joel Rhodes, Ph.D., SHSMO executive director, interviewed Godwin about how the state's history, people, and culture shaped her life.
About the Presenter
A native of Jackson, Missouri, Linda Godwin earned a bachelor’s degree in mathematics and physics from Southeast Missouri State University and a master’s and doctoral degrees in physics from the University of Missouri, where she conducted research in low-temperature condensed matter physics. Godwin joined NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston in 1980, working in Payload Operations. She served as a flight controller and payloads officer in Mission Control before being selected as an astronaut candidate in 1985. A veteran of four space shuttle missions, Godwin has logged over 38 days in space. During her NASA career, she also served as deputy chief of the Astronaut Office and as acting deputy director of the Flight Crew Operations Directorate. Godwin returned to the University of Missouri in 2011 as a professor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy. She is now professor emerita.