You Must Be as Tall as This Sign to Go Into Space

By Frank Pellegrini Wednesday, July 30, 1997
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STAR CITY, Russia: U.S. astronaut Wendy Lawrence had been rejected for Mir duty once before because she was too short (53). But the Russians modified their rules and there she was on Wednesday at Star City, getting ready to blast off for Mir and joking in Russian with reporters. Phone rings. NASA's Mir chief Frank Culbertson with an old story: shes still too short. The hangup: the next American on the space station will need to wear the Russian space suit to help with the repairs. It doesn't fit Lawrence.