Anna Lee Fisher
Anna Lee Fisher is an American chemist, emergency physician, NASA astronaut, and one of the first women selected by NASA. Chosen in NASA Astronaut Group 8 in 1978, she became the first mother to fly in space.
- Born
- August 24, 1949
- Died
- N/A
- Birthplace
- Albany, New York,United States
Flights
1
Spacewalks
0
EVA time
N/A
In space
7 days, 23 hours, 45 minutes
Bio
Fisher trained as a chemist and physician at UCLA before joining NASA. During the early shuttle program she worked on robotic-arm procedures, payload-bay-door contingency procedures, launch support, and vehicle testing at Kennedy Space Center.
Her only spaceflight was STS-51-A in 1984 aboard Discovery. Fisher served as and helped operate the robotic arm during the mission that recovered the stranded Palapa B2 and Westar 6 satellites.
After STS-51-A, Fisher took family leave and later returned to NASA for long service in , Shuttle, CAPCOM, and Orion spacecraft work. Her career lasted long enough to connect the first shuttle crews with the development of Orion.
Fisher's record is larger than one flight: she was part of the first group of NASA women astronauts, the first mother in space, and a physician-astronaut who kept contributing to human spaceflight operations for decades.