PITTSFIELD -- Gillian Bowen is looking forward to today, when her father embarks on his journey.

But she's also "a little nervous."

After all, it's not every day you get to watch your dad board a rocket and blast off into space.

"It's a little nerve-racking," Bowen said. "But I'm really excited for him; he's been training a long time for it."

Bowen, 15, is a first-year student at Maine Central Institute in Pittsfield and a dancer with the Bossov Ballet Theatre, which is based at the MCI campus.

Originally from Boston, Bowen was drawn to the ballet program and is now living in an MCI dormitory. Her father, Steve Bowen, has been training to be an astronaut in Texas for eight years.

Last Friday, the ballet program's executive director, Michael Wyly, drove Bowen down to the Portland International Jetport so she could fly down to the launch site in Florida to be with her family.

MCI and Bossov Ballet granted Bowen a leave of absence so she could watch her father launch into space and be there for his return.

"It struck me during the two-hour trip how much she is like her Navy-captain father," Wyly said. "Strong on courage, contagious good spirits and a solid sense of duty."

Steve Bowen, 44, is part of a seven-member NASA team on the space shuttle Endeavor, which will help complete the assembly of the International Space Station. The space shuttle is scheduled to launch tonight at 7:55 at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla.

Steve Bowen will participate in four spacewalks during the 15-day mission, according to NASA's Web site. The team's mission, called STS-126, is to prepare the space station so it can sustain a crew of six people. The first module for the space station launched into space 10 years ago.

Although it will be Steve Bowen's first time in space, he's had years of training. He began training at the Johnson Space Center in August 2000.

"He always liked space and wanted to see if he could make it and they accepted him," Gillian Bowen said.

Bowen said she will be with her mother, Deborah, and brothers Nick and Max to watch the shuttle launch from Cocoa Beach, Fla., due south of the Space Center.

Bowen said her father plans to take several photos with him on his space journey, including a shot of her with Pittsfield's Bossov Ballet group.

"I'm looking forward to him coming back," Gillian said. "And I'm excited to see the launch; I think it will be a really cool thing to see."

Steve Bowen also plans to speak later with MCI students about his experiences, Gillian said. She returns to Pittsfield on Dec. 2 so she can prepare for the ballet's upcoming production of "The Nutcracker."

Wyly, the Bossov Ballet director, is a retired Marine colonel and said he sees special significance in Bowen's support of her father and her "Navy family."

"In war and peace when the sailor goes to sea or to war or up in space, life has to go on. Morale at home depends on the morale of the sailor," Wyly said. "And the morale of the sailor depends on the morale and well-being of his wife, his daughter and his sons.

"So it was my honor to play a small part in making possible a brief reunion of father and daughter before Captain Bowen launches into the vast reaches of space."

Scott Monroe -- 487-3288smonroe@centralmaine.com