Enid High School Observatory

The astronaut on the dome's name ran the robotic arm that started the International Space Station. Nancy Currie-Gregg, an Army aviator and engineer, flew on STS-88 Endeavour in December 1998, the first station assembly mission, and her main job was to use the shuttle's 50-foot arm to retrieve the Russian-built Zarya module and connect it to the American-built Unity. She worked the arm again during the three spacewalks that hooked up the two modules. Her four flights, from 1993 to 2002, added up to about 1,000 hours in space.

What the plaque says

Enid High School Observatory The observatory at Enid High School has been an inspiration to generations of local students. Now called the Dr. Nancy Currie-Gregg Observatory, the roof-top facility was the brainchild of Jim Smeltzer, a young physics teacher. Through his efforts, funding for the observatory was obtained in 1962 through the National Defense Education Act (NDEA), a Cold War-era federal program established in response to the Soviet Union's launch of the Sputnik I satellite in 1957. The NDEA sought to strengthen science and technological training in America's schools and ignited what came to be known as the Space Race. With the dome's construction in 1963 and the installation of an eight-inch telescope in 1965, Enid became the only high school observatory in Oklahoma. Astronomy curriculum created by Smeltzer brought both state and national attention to the district. Through the years, students viewing the night sky from this place have become astronomers, physi- cists, educators, engineers, researchers, and doctors, among many pursuits. Dr. Currie-Gregg was a NASA Astronaut who flew four times on the Space Shuttle. In 2017 she and her husband, Tim, an EHS alumnus, led the community-wide effort to preserve and modernize this important educational resource.

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Cherokee Strip Regional Heritage Center — 0.8 mi
  The Oklahoma Historical Society's Enid museum of the September 1893 run into the Cherokee Outlet, with the town's original land office among the old buildings out back.
• Salt Plains National Wildlife Refuge — 31 mi
  About twelve thousand acres of salt flat near Jet where visitors dig hourglass selenite crystals in season, and where the Cherokee Outlet treaty kept the salt open to every tribe.

More markers nearby

• Buffalo Springs — 12 mi
• Run of '89 North Boundary — 15 mi
• Cherokee Strip — 15 mi
• Massacre of Pat Hennessey — 19 mi