Summer reading with Lt. Gen. Helms

VANDENBERG AIR FORCE BASE, Calif. -- Lt. Gen. Susan Helms, commander of U.S. Strategic Command's Joint Functional Component Command for Space and 14th Air Force (Air Forces Strategic), speaks with children July 27, 2012, at the Vandenberg Air Force Base library about her experiences as an astronaut. The library hosted a six-week summer reading program themed "Reading is So Delicious." In addition to encouraging the children to read and do well in school, she talked to them about the various types of space food and the intricacies of flying in space. General Helms became an astronaut in July 1991 and went on to became the first U.S. military woman in space. She flew on STS-54 (1993), STS-64 (1994), STS-78 (1996) and STS-101 (2000), and served aboard the International Space Station as a member of the Expedition-2 crew (2001). A veteran of five space flights, General Helms has logged 211 days in space, including a spacewalk of eight hours and 56 minutes, a world record. (U.S. Air Force photo/Jerry E. Clemens Jr.)