“I remember [as a little kid] looking at the night sky, at the stars, and saying I’m gonna go there,”  reflected senior Abigail Harrison

Harrison is well known here at South High School and around the astronaut community. She has almost 9,500 followers on Facebook. Harrison went to Kazakhstan at the invitation of an Italian astronaut named Luca Parmitano and visited Cape Canaveral for the Orion launch. All of this attention is because Harrison has made clear that she is headed to Mars.

Harrison has been interested in being an astronaut for a very long time. Teachers have encouraged her, from her fifth grade teacher at Field Community School to Mick Hamilton, a South biology teacher.

“She was one of only two students in [AP Bio] who was not a senior. She did an amazing job of holding her own… always a great project team player. She never swayed from being herself,” Hamilton remembered.

Currently, Harrison is a PSEO student because she sees the classes as at the University of Minnesota as the next step to reach her goal. She chooses each of her classes with her career goal in mind.

“I have decided to take a lot of extra courses, doubling up on math and science when possible. I chose Chinese when I was a freshman at South, because I looked at the way the Space program was shifting,” she explained.

Harrison always tries to prioritize her long term goal of going to Mars before other engagements. She is intent on going to Mars for three reasons. Her first reason was that, “Mars is incredibly earthlike and people go so far as to call Mars the ‘sister planet of earth.’”

Secondly, she believes, “By exploring Mars we can discover the past or the future of what Earth could become.” And finally she believes that “The idea of curiosity is the first thing that drove us to cross oceans, the next step we need to take is to go to Mars.”

So how does one go about becoming an astronaut? Harrison has that all worked out. It will take a lot to get the attention of NASA. Harrison has determined that a Mars mission in 2030, would allow her time to achieve her goals.

“With the path [and] goals that I’ve made, I will have a PHD, possibly more degrees than that, because I am looking at doing a double major. I am scuba certified and am getting my pilots license next year,” she said.

Harrison is trying to get people interested in space exploration through an international outreach program. She visits classrooms and talks to students about space travel. The message she wants to relay to students is, “never give up on your dreams. If there is something you believe in then you have to stick to it . . . because that is how you find a worthwhile path in your life. It’s just about inspiration.”