Bonnie Jeanne Dunbar is a former NASA astronaut. She retired from NASA in September 2005. She then served as president and CEO of The Museum of Flight until April of 2010. She is now a consultant.
Dunbar was born March 3, 1949, in Sunnyside, Washington. In 1967, she graduated from Sunnyside High School, Sunnyside, Washington. Following graduation in 1971 from the University of Washington, Dunbar worked for Boeing Computer Services for two years as a systems analyst. From 1973 to 1975, she conducted research for her master's thesis in the field of mechanisms and kinetics of ionic diffusion in sodium beta-alumina.
In 1975, she was invited to participate in research at Harwell Laboratories in Oxford, England as a visiting scientist. Her work there involved the wetting behavior of liquids on solid substrates. Following her work in England, she accepted a senior research engineer position with Rockwell International Space Division in Downey, California. Her responsibilities there included developing equipment and processes for the manufacture of the Space Shuttle thermal protection system in Palmdale, California. She also represented Rockwell International as a member of the Dr. Kraft Ehricke evaluation committee on prospective space industrialization concepts. Dunbar completed her doctorate at the University of Houston in Houston, Texas. Her multi-disciplinary dissertation (materials science) and physiology) involved evaluating the effects of simulated space flight on bone strength and fracture toughness. These results were correlated to alterations in hormonal and metabolic activity. Dr. Dunbar has served as an adjunct assistant professor in Mechanical Engineering at the University of Houston.
Dunbar is a private pilot with over 200 hours in single engine land aircraft, has logged more than 700 hours flying time in T-38 jets as a back-seater, and has over 100 hours as co-pilot in a Cessna Citation jet. She was married to fellow astronaut Ronald M. Sega.
Bonnie Dunbar grew up on a homestead in Outlook, spending the first few years of her life in a home without electricity. As a NASA astronaut, she flew five space missions between 1985-98.
The Bonnie Dunbar Bronze Committee began work in February of 2009 to bring a larger-than-life statue of Sunnyside's famous astronaut to Central Park.
The $90,000 statue features two likenesses of Dunbar, one as girl growing up on an Outlook ranch and one as an astronaut in uniform, helmet tucked under her arm.
They were designed by Sunnyside artist Desiree Dawn and produced at a foundry in Joseph, Ore
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bonnie_J._Dunbar
This cache is located in an area known as the Bronze Pathway. From walking distance from this location, you can see several other bronze statues. You can also visit the Sunnyside Museum, the snipes cabin, a water fountain dedicated to Walter Granger, and an kiosk dedicated to the Christian Co-op that originally founded Sunnyside.