"I went to medical school thinking in the back of my mind that even if i didn't get to become an astronaut maybe some day I'd get to be a doctor on a space station," she said. She pursued a a degree in chemistry and then pursued a medical degree at UCLA. So it didn't seem like a very likely ambition, but I knew that that's what I wanted to do if ever given the opportunity." "Women weren't even allowed to join the military and fly high-performance jets so that they would be eligible to go to test pilot school. I want to combine my love of math and science with space exploration," she said, but noted the reality at the time was that all the astronauts back then were military test pilots, and men. "That was when I decided that's what I want to do someday. It was a very exciting year doing the two things I love, and it's been very fun to share that with her."įisher said she had wanted to become an astronaut since she was 12 years old listening on a transistor radio in her PE teacher's class in 1961 as Alan Shepard became the first American in space launching on Freedom 7. "That's not the way I exactly planned it. ![]() "My daughter tells me I owe it all to her," Fisher said about becoming the first mother in space. The first of her two daughters, Kristin, who is now grown up and works as the space and defense correspondent for CNN, was just over a year old when Anna flew to space. 8, 1984, to retrieve two satellites that had not made it to the correct orbit and returning nearly eight days later. I will never forget those memories and it was a successful mission."įisher, now 73, flew on STS 51-A, the 14th shuttle mission overall, launching Nov. "So it was quite an intense year, jumping in and being a new mom and being a first-time flyer. "I was assigned to my flight two weeks before my daughter was born," Fisher said during a "Women in Space" panel Friday at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex. Ride was the first, but all six women from that class made it to space including Anna Fisher, who became the first mom in space when she launched on her lone mission aboard Space Shuttle Discovery in 1984. ![]() She was among six women named in 1978 as part of NASA Astronaut Group 8, all mission specialists. She broke barriers, but she wasn't alone. Sally Ride was the first American woman in space when she rode on Space Shuttle Challenger from KSC's Launch Complex 39-A on June 18, 1983.
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