FORT COLLINS, Colo. -- Dorothy Metcalf-Lindenburger, or Dottie, is realizing a lifelong dream. She planned to be an astronaut, but chose instead to become a science teacher. As fate would have it, teaching led her back to her childhood aspiration.

"One of her students asked her how do astronauts go to the bathroom in space and she answered and said, 'I don't know, but I will find out the answer,'" said Joyce Metcalf, Metcalf-Lindenburger's mother. "And so she went on NASA's website, and found out the answer for the student but also it was the first day that NASA had posted that they wanted teachers to apply to be astronauts."

Metcalf-Lindenburger was accepted into NASA's astronaut training program in 2004, where she learned to fly, and has spent the last six years preparing for one of only four remaining missions before the shuttle fleet is retired.

"She is in charge of some of the robotic arms on the shuttle as they are moving equipment around," said Metcalf.

Metcalf-Lindenburger graduated from Fort Collins High School. Her parents still live there, and are anxiously awaiting the scheduled launch on April 5, 2010.

"We were just thoroughly excited," said Keith Metcalf, her father.

But with great personal accomplishment, also comes great risk. So as they look to the heavens during the space shuttle's launch, they say, there too will they find their strength.

"It is frightening to be set on top of a rocket with all that fuel and all that thrust going up into space," said Keith. "But I think her faith and our faith gets us through that."

During the 13-day mission, the crew of the space shuttle Discovery will deliver supplies to the International Space Station.