It was quite an honor to meet Dr. Bonnie Dunbar, an astronaut with the U.S. space program. She came to Iceland to share her compelling life story growing up in rural Washington State and her journey that took her to space five times with the Shuttle Space program. She shared her experiences with a mesmerized audience at the University of Iceland. Dr. Dunbar’s story had a very interesting Icelandic twist. While she was in high school, her school hosted an Icelandic exchange student named Árni Sigurðsson. Árni and Bonnie remained lifelong friends; she became an astronaut and he became a pilot for Icelandair. This visit was made possible by Icelandair, the University of Iceland, and the Icelandic-American Society – a wonderful group of Icelanders dedicated to strengthening ties between Iceland and the U.S. through educational exchanges.
