page_title: NASA Astronaut Group 8
section_title: Mission specialists
hierarchical_section_title: NASA Astronaut Group 8 / Group members / Mission specialists
caption_attribution_description: English: Sally Ride was the first American woman in space. Born on May 26, 1951 in Los Angeles, California, she received a Bachelor in Physics and English in 1973 from Stanford University and, later, a Master in Physics in 1975 and a Doctorate in Physics in 1978, also from Stanford. NASA selected Dr. Ride as an astronaut candidate in January 1978. She completed her training in August 1979, and began her astronaut career as a mission specialist on STS-7, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on June 18, 1983. The mission spent 147 hours in space before landing on a lakebed runway at Edwards Air Force Base, California on June 24, 1983. Dr. Ride also served as a mission specialist on STS-41-G, which launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on October 5, 1984 and landed 197 hours later at Kennedy Space Center, Florida on October 13, 1984. In June 1985, NASA assigned Dr. Ride to serve as mission specialist on STS-61-M. She discontinued mission training in January 1986 to serve as a member of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger accident, also known as the Rogers Commission. Upon completing the investigation she returned to NASA Headquarters as Special Assistant to the Administrator for Long Range and Strategic Planning, where she lead a team that wrote NASA Leadership and America's Future in Space:A Report to the Administrator in August 1987. Dr. Ride has also written a children's book, To Space and Back, describing her experiences in space, has received the Jefferson Award for Public Service, and has twice been awarded the National Spaceflight Medal. Her latest books include Voyager:An Adventure to the Edge of the Solar System and The Third Planet: Exploring the Earth from Space. She was also a member of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB), which investigated the February 1, 2003 loss of Space Shuttle Columbia. Dr. Ride is currently a physics professor and Director of the California Space Institute at the University of California, San Diego.
context_page_description: NASA Astronaut Group 8 was a group of 35 astronauts announced on January 16, 1978. It was the first selection in nine years of astronaut candidates since Group 7 in August 1969, and also included NASA's first female astronauts. Due to the long delay between the last Apollo lunar mission in 1972 and the first flight of the Space Shuttle in 1981, few astronauts from the older groups stayed with NASA. Since then, a new group of candidates has been selected roughly every two years.
  In Astronaut Group 8, two different astronaut groups were formed: pilots and mission specialists. Of the 35 selected, six were women, three were male African Americans, and one was a male Asian American.
context_section_description: Guion Bluford (born 1942), U.S. Air Force (4 flights)
  STS-8  Challenger — August 1983 — INSAT-1B satellite deployment mission
  STS-61-A  Challenger — October 1985 — Spacelab mission
  STS-39  Discovery — April 1991 — United States Department of Defense mission; carried AFP-675
  STS-53  Discovery — December 1992 — United States Department of Defense mission; deployed USA-89 (SDS-2)
  James Buchli (born 1945), U.S. Marine Corps (4 flights)
  STS-51-C  Discovery — January 1985 — United States Department of Defense mission; deployed USA-8 (Magnum 1)
  STS-61-A  Challenger — October 1985 — Spacelab mission
  STS-29  Discovery — March 1989 — TDRS D satellite deployment mission
  STS-48  Discovery — September 1991 — Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite deployment mission
  John Fabian (born 1939), U.S. Air Force (2 flights)
  STS-7  Challenger — June 1983 — Anik C-2 and Palapa B1 satellite deployment mission
  STS-51-G  Discovery — June 1985 — Arabsat-1B, Morelos 1, and Telstar 3D satellite deployment mission
  Anna Fisher (born 1949), Chemist (1 flight)
  STS-51-A  Discovery — November 1984 — Anik D-2 and Syncom IV-1 satellite deployment; Westar 6 and Palapa B2 satellite retrieval mission
  Dale Gardner (1948–2014), U.S. Navy (2 flights)
  STS-8  Challenger — August 1983 — INSAT-1B satellite deployment mission
  STS-51-A  Discovery — November 1984 — Anik D-2 and Syncom IV-1 satellite deployment; Westar 6 and Palapa B2 satellite retrieval mission
  Terry Hart (born 1946), U.S. Air Force (1 flight)
  STS-41-C  Challenger — April 1984 — Long Duration Exposure Facility deployment and Solar Max repair mission
  Steven Hawley (born 1951), Physicist (5 flights)
  STS-41-D  Discovery — August 1984 — SBS-D, Telstar 3C, and Syncom IV-2 satellite deployment mission
  STS-61-C  Columbia — January 1986 — Satcom K1 satellite deployment mission
  STS-31  Discovery — April 1990 — Hubble Space Telescope deployment mission
  STS-82  Discovery — February 1997 — Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission # 2
  STS-93  Columbia — July 1999 — Chandra X-ray Observatory deployment mission
  Jeffrey Hoffman (born 1944), Scientist (5 flights)
  STS-51-D  Discovery — April 1985 — Anik C-1 and Syncom IV-3 satellite deployment mission
  STS-35  Columbia — December 1990 — Spacelab mission
  STS-46  Atlantis — July 1992 — EURECA deployment and Tethered Satellite System mission
  STS-61  Endeavour — December 1993 — Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission # 1
  STS-75  Columbia — February 1996 — EDO mission
  Shannon Lucid (born 1943), Biochemist (5 flights)
  STS-51-G  Discovery — June 1985 — Arabsat-1B, Morelos 1, and Telstar 3D satellite deployment mission
  STS-34  Atlantis — October 1989 — Galileo probe deployment mission
  STS-43  Atlantis — August 1991 — TDRS E satellite deployment mission
  STS-58  Columbia — October 1993 — Spacelab/EDO mission
  STS-76  Atlantis — March 1996 — Shuttle-Mir docking (launch)
  Mir NASA-1 — second American long-duration increment on Mir
  STS-79  Atlantis — September 1996 — Shuttle-Mir docking (landing)
  Ronald McNair (1950–1986), Physicist (2 flights) — Died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
  STS-41-B  Challenger — February 1984 — Westar 6 and Palapa B2 satellite deployment mission
  STS-51-L  Challenger — January 1986 — TDRS B satellite deployment mission
  Richard Mullane (born 1945), U.S. Air Force (3 flights)
  STS-41-D  Discovery — August 1984 — SBS-D, Telstar 3C, and Syncom IV-2 satellite deployment mission
  STS-27  Atlantis — December 1988 — United States Department of Defense mission; deployed USA-34 (Lacrosse-1)
  STS-36  Atlantis — February 1990 — United States Department of Defense mission; deployed USA-53 (Misty)
  George Nelson (born 1950), Physicist (3 flights)
  STS-41-C  Challenger — April 1984 — Long Duration Exposure Facility deployment and Solar Max repair mission
  STS-61-C  Columbia — January 1986 — Satcom K1 satellite deployment mission
  STS-26  Discovery — September 1988 — TDRS C satellite deployment mission
  Ellison Onizuka (1946–1986), U.S. Air Force (2 flights) — Died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster
  STS-51-C  Discovery — January 1985 — United States Department of Defense 
caption: Sally Ride, the first American woman in space.
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