It was my privilege to honor #DrIreneDuhartLong at her memorial service today. Dr. Long was my ‘go to’ at Kennedy Space Center, my friend and hero. Dr. Long was a remarkable woman and a #trailblazer! In 1979 she became only the second civilian to enter the Wright State University School of Medicine’s aerospace medicine program. In 1982, she began her esteemed career with NASA as a physician. In 1994 she became Director of the Biomedical Operations and Research Office at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) and in 2000 she was appointed Chief Medical Officer and Associate Director of Spaceport Services at KSC. Dr Long was the first female and the first minority to hold that position. Dr. Long developed and implemented programs that increased aerospace medicine trained physicians and supported women and minorities in life and space sciences. Among her many accolades: 1986 - Kennedy Space Center Federal Woman of the Year Award; Spacelab-Life Sciences Experiments Team Group Achievement Award; 1995 - Society of NASA Flight Surgeons Presidential Award; 1998 - Women in Aerospace Outstanding Achievement Award; 2001 - Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame; 2005 - Lifetime Achievement Award, Women of Color Technology Awards Conference; 2010 - Strughold Award, Space Medicine Association.