Joan Higginbotham, the third African American woman to launch into space, encouraged a Charlotte audience Monday to commit to the ideals that Martin Luther King Jr. worked and died for.

Speaking to an audience in the Halton Theater of Central Piedmont Community College, the former astronaut who flew to the International Space Station aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in 2006, recalled her 13-day mission in light of King’s 1963 “I Have a Dream” speech.

“I wonder when Dr. King was speaking those words if he ever thought that there would be seven individuals of all different colors, creeds, who would one day... get together and launch into the space shuttle.”

Higginbotham said her mission – officially named STS-116 – included a Russian astronaut of Korean descent, two African Americans, a Swedish astronaut, one of Indian descent, a British man who became an American citizen so that he could go into space and a Caucasian American.

Despite their ethnic differences, she said, the team lived in “what is essentially a tin can” 220 miles above the Earth, “working together in harmony and peace.”

Higginbotham said she believes the United States is on its way to fulfilling King’s dream, “but we still have a long way to go.”

Her audience included the winners of the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools MLK Writing and Art Contest. She encouraged the audience to commit themselves to the ideal that King worked and died for, and she left the students with three pieces of advice:

Dare to Dream: “Who would have thought that a girl from the south side of Chicago would have gone into space and made history,” she said. “Not me.”

Be Committed to That Dream: “I could stand here and tell you about the many trials and tribulations that it took to get where I got,” she said. “But I guarantee you, nothing in life that’s worthwhile comes easily.”

Life Your Dream: “I was told growing up that the sky is the limit. I’d like to challenge that,” she said. “I don’t think the sky is the limit. I have been beyond the sky. The sky is no longer the limit.”

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