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[i]When astronaut Karen Nyberg launched for her mission aboard the International Space Station, she brought with her some unusual items, including: a spool of ivory thread, five needles, and three "fat quarters" of fabric. During the five month stint that she spent living aboard the Space Station as a flight engineer, Nyberg became the first person to quilt while in orbit. As one might imagine, the astronaut and artist ran into some unique difficulties while striving to complete her zero-gravity project, including figuring out how to best store her sewing supplies (Velcro and Ziploc bags kept needles and strips of fabric from floating away) and how to cut floating fabric. Of the latter, Nyberg states, "Imagine if you take a piece of fabric and hold it out in front of you. Now, take your scissors and try to cut it and that is exactly what it is like. Because you can't lie it down on the floor, and you can't use a rotary cutter, you just have to cut." Despite these difficulties, Nyberg successfully completed a nine-by-nine inch, red, white and blue quilt square. Upon returning to Earth, Nyberg expanded upon her "Astronomical Quilt," calling for quilters from all over the world to submit star themed fabric blocks to be included in the final product. Nyberg received over 2,200 submissions, which were sewn together to create 28 quilt panels, with the original star at the center. "With a project like this, what I think is really cool, is that you can take somebody from every part of this world and find something that you have in common with them. And we really do have something in common with people from everywhere," Nyberg said. Born in Vining, Minnesota, Karen Nyberg graduated summa cum laude from the University of North Dakota where she received a Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering. She then earned a Doctorate from the University of Texas at Austin, for her work researching human thermoregulation and metabolic testing at the Austin Bioheat Transfer Laboratory, with special focus on thermo neutrality in space suits. Nyberg is currently an American mechanical engineer and NASA astronaut.[/i]
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