
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, December 9, 1993                   TAG: 9312090241
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: A-17   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: CHARLOTTESVILLE                                LENGTH: Short

MARRIAGE MADE IN HEAVEN

A long-distance marriage is nothing new for Steve and Kathryn Thornton. He's in Charlottesville; she's in outer space.

Kathryn Thornton is one of seven astronauts repairing the Hubble Space Telescope. Her husband is a University of Virginia physics professor.

When she took off on Endeavour, he joined their three daughters in Houston to follow the action from Mission Control. The family had a five-minute video-phone call Tuesday.

"She looked very good," Steve Thornton said. "I wanted to reach up there and grab her. She's doing real well."

Kathryn Thornton, 41, spends most of her time in Houston. Monthly commuting during UVa's school year is difficult, but Steve Thornton said he has a good job, and so does his wife.

This is Kathryn Thornton's third space flight. She is a physicist from Montgomery, Ala., and became an astronaut in 1984.

The Thornton daughters, ages 3, 8 and 11, live with their mother in Houston and are used to space excitement.

"There are astronauts all over the place down here," Steve Thornton said. "It's not such a big deal to them. It's the way life is."

by CNB