Retired NASA Astronaut
Speaker (Dottie ML, LLC), Educator, Geologist
Dorothy (Dottie) Metcalf-Lindenburger grew up along the Front Range of Colorado. She graduated from Fort Collins High School, where she ran on two state championship cross-country teams and placed second as a Science Olympiad team member. A scholar-athlete, she ran cross-country and track for Whitman College, where she earned her BA in Geology. She went on to get a teaching certification from Central Washington University and taught earth science and astronomy for five years at Hudson’s Bay High School in Vancouver, Washington. In addition to teaching, she coached cross country and Science Olympiad.
In June of 2004, NASA selected Metcalf-Lindenburger to join the Astronaut Corps. After several years of training, she flew as a mission specialist on the STS-131 crew, an International Space Station (ISS) resupply mission. She served as Mission Specialist 2 (also known as the flight engineer), a robotic arm operator, the Intra-vehicular crew member (the inside coordinator of the spacewalks), and a transfer crew member (helping move six tons of hardware and equipment). The mission lasted 15 days.
During June of 2012, Metcalf-Lindenburger commanded the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operation (NEEMO) in the Aquarius Reef Habitat off the Florida coast. The 16th underwater mission sought to develop techniques for working at an asteroid while operating under a 100-second time delay.
In June of 2014, Metcalf-Lindenburger retired from the Astronaut Corps and returned to the Pacific Northwest with her family. She earned her MS in applied geology at the University of Washington and worked as a geologist for Geosyntec Consultants. In 2023, Metcalf-Lindenburger founded her own business, Dottie ML, LLC. She is a professional speaker and continues to promote STEAM education. She also volunteers on the Presidential Advisory Board for Whitman College and serves as a Trustee for Seattle’s Museum of Flight.
