Shuttle Flight Nominees : 2 Teachers a Step Nearer the Heavens

One, William Dillon, teaches science, math and industrial arts at Peninsula High School in San Bruno. The other, Gloria McMillan, teaches English at La Jolla High School.

But both are hoping to leave the youngsters behind--no matter how much they like them--and vault off into space aboard the orbiter Challenger on Jan. 22, the date for the scheduled launch of Shuttle Mission 51-L.

Dillon, 46, and McMillan, 40, are the California nominees for the National Aeronautic and Space Administration’s Teacher in Space Project. Their selection from among more than 900 state teachers who originally entered the competition was announced Friday at the Museum of Science and Industry by state Supt. of Public Instruction Bill Honig.

Rough Flight to L.A.

“I took off from the Bay Area at 7 this morning and got to Santa Monica Airport at 9,” said Dillon, patting his head during a press conference at which he and McMillan were introduced. “I ran into so much turbulence over Santa Barbara and Santa Monica that I’ve still got a headache. If there are any doubts about my ability to pass the motion sickness test, that experience today should disprove it.”

For her part, McMillan said: “I’m elated. And my husband and my children are absolutely ecstatic. I call my husband my ‘first-stage booster.’ ”

The California pair now will compete against two selected in each of the other states for the honor of being the first teacher--”first private citizen” as McMillan pointed out--to travel aboard a NASA spaceflight. Ten national semifinalists will be chosen from among the candidates in Washington in July after a weeklong workshop the last week of June. The winner and backup candidate will be announced in September.

Passed ‘With Flying Colors’

The competition was open to all elementary and secondary schoolteachers in the nation who are U.S. citizens, had been full-time classroom instructors for five years and passed a Federal Aviation Administration physical, which both Dillon and McMillan said they did “with flying colors.”

Dillon, the divorced father of a 17-year-old, has been teaching for 20 years, and McMillan, wife of an attorney and mother of a 21- and an 18-year-old, for 16 years.

Honig said the selection committee, made up mainly of California educators, chose them, subject to his approval, for “sparkle and breadth and their deep interest in space.”

Robert Payton, a physical science teacher at Enterprise High in Redding, was chosen as their backup in the event either is unable to continue in the competition.

The January, 1986, mission--NASA’s 25th and the orbiter Challenger’s 10th--is scheduled to last four days.