A NASA astronaut was the guest speaker at an Iowa State University event last night. Dr. Sandra Magnus is assigned as a consultant to the Russian space program as part of the International Space Station project. Magnus says the first crew should be sent to the orbiting facility in July.Magnus says the space station will be a platform for scientific research that can be of great benefit to the people on Earth by finding drugs to curespecific diseases.Magnus is 35 and a native of Belleville, Illinois. She hopes to fly on her first shuttle mission in 2002. Before becoming an astronaut, she did scientific research on “stealth” technology and engineering work on the A-12 attack aircraft.Magnus was the guest speaker for the I-S-U Materials Science and Engineering Spring Awards Banquet and Industrial Advisory Council Dinner.