Anna Lee Fisher
Anna Lee Fisher (née Tingle; born August 24, 1949) is an American chemist, emergency physician, and a former NASA astronaut. Formerly married to fellow astronaut Bill Fisher, and the mother of two children, in 1984 she became the first mother in space. During her career at NASA, she has been involved with three major programs: the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station and the Orion spacecraft. Biography. Fisher was born in St. Albans, Queens, a community in New York City, and grew up in San Pedro, California. She is a 1967 graduate of San Pedro High School . She went on to receive a Bachelor of Science in Chemistry in 1971 at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Fisher then stayed on at UCLA and started graduate school in chemistry in the field of x-ray crystallographic studies of metallocarbonanes. The following year she moved to the UCLA School of Medicine, where she received her Doctor of Medicine degree in 1976. She completed her internship at Harbor General Hospital in Torrance, California, in 1977. She chose to specialize in emergency medicine and worked in several hospitals in the Los Angeles area. Fisher later went back to graduate  school and received a Master of Science in Chemistry from UCLA in 1987. She was initiated as an alumna into Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women in 1989, at the San Diego, CA biennial Convention. She resides in Houston, Texas. NASA career. Fisher was selected as an astronaut candidate in January 1978. In August 1979, she completed her training and evaluation period, making her eligible for assignment as a mission specialist on space shuttle flight crews. Following the one-year basic training program, Fisher's early NASA assignments (pre-STS-1 through STS-4) included the following: For STS-5 through STS-7, Fisher  supported vehicle integrated testing and payload testing at Kennedy Space Center. In addition, Fisher supported each Orbital Flight Test (STS 1-4) launch and landing (at either a prime or backup site) as a physician in the rescue helicopters, and provided both medical and operational inputs to the development of rescue procedures. Fisher was a CAPCOM for STS-9. She eventually flew in late 1984 on STS-51-A aboard "Discovery". The mission deployed two satellites, and recovered two others that had been placed into improper orbits due to the malfunctioning of their kick motors (see mission STS-41-B). Post-Challenger. Fisher  was assigned as a mission specialist on STS-61-H prior to the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster. Following the accident, she worked as the Deputy of the Mission Development Branch of the Astronaut Office, and as the astronaut office representative for Flight Data File issues. In that capacity, she served as the crew representative on the Crew Procedures Change Board. Fisher served on the Astronaut Selection Board for the 1987 class of astronauts. Fisher also served in the Space Station Support Office where she worked part-time in the Space Station Operations Branch. She was the crew representative supporting space station  development in the areas of training, operations concepts, and the health maintenance facility. Leave of absence. With her husband, fellow astronaut Dr. William Frederick Fisher, she had two daughters, Kristin Anne (b. July 29, 1983) and Kara Lynne (b. January 10, 1989). From 1988 to 1996, Dr. Fisher took an extended leave from NASA to raise her family. Return. When she first returned to the Astronaut Office, she was assigned to the Operations Planning Branch to work on the procedures and training issues in support of the International Space Station. She served as the Branch Chief of the Operations Planning  Branch from June 1997-June 1998. Following a reorganization of the Astronaut office, she was assigned as the Deputy for Operations/Training of the Space Station Branch from June 1998-June 1999. In that capacity, she had oversight responsibility for Astronaut Office inputs to the Space Station Program on issues regarding operations, procedures, and training for the ISS. She next served as Chief of the Space Station Branch of the Astronaut Office with oversight responsibility for 40-50 astronauts and support engineers. In that capacity, she coordinated all astronaut inputs to the Space Station Program Office on issues regarding the  design, development, and testing of space station hardware. Additionally, she coordinated all Astronaut Office inputs to Space Station operations, procedures, and training and worked with the International Partners to negotiate common design requirements and standards for displays and procedures. She also served as the Astronaut Office representative on numerous Space Station Program Boards and Multilateral Boards. Fisher was later assigned to the Shuttle Branch and worked technical assignments in that branch. In 2012, she briefly made news when, during the landing of the Space Shuttle "Discovery" at Washington's Dulles Airport, where it was being retired to the Smithsonian Institution , she advised an aspiring astronaut to "study Russian". At least one commentator suggested this was a veiled criticism of the US government's lack of funding for the space program. As a management astronaut, she worked jointly for the Capsule Communicator and Exploration branches of NASA, working as a station CAPCOM and on display development for the Orion project until her retirement in April 2017. Spaceflight experience. Fisher was a mission specialist on STS-51A which launched November 8, 1984. She was accompanied by Frederick Hauck (spacecraft commander), David Walker (pilot) and fellow mission specialists Dr. Joseph Allen and Dale Gardner . With the completion of her flight, Fisher logged a total of 192 hours in space. This mission made her the first mother in space. Fisher has stated that she was in line to fly another shuttle mission when the Columbia disaster happened. Personal. She married fellow physician and fellow astronaut William Frederick Fisher on August 23, 1977. They have two daughters, Kristin Anne (b. July 29, 1983), who is broadcast journalist, and Kara Lynne (b. January 10, 1989) who received her MBA degree in May, 2017 from SMU in Dallas, Texas. The Fishers were divorced in 2000. In popular culture . Prior to her retirement — before and after her flight assignments — Fisher did a number of public appearances per year; those included official duties: Fisher spoke to visitors at the September 22, 2012 open house of NASA's Langley Research Center; those included semi-official duties: Fisher was a special guest at the 99th Indianapolis 500 on May 24, 2015; those have also included appearances related to both the novelty of her being one of the original six women selected by NASA (Connie Chung interviewed her on the day she was selected) and her former marriage to fellow astronaut Bill Fisher  — they appeared together with their daughter Kristin on an August 1983 segment of Good Morning America. The September 1982 issue of The Saturday Evening Post featured a cover photo of Fisher. She was also photographed for the cover of Red Book magazine. Iconic photograph. Outside of the publicity she does herself, her likeness has been widely shared on the Internet and it has been used in various promotions and tribute art. One photograph in particular has become iconic. Photographer John Bryson shot a series of photos of Fisher wearing a helmet and space suit. One shot in the series, in  which she is turned farthest away from the camera (almost in complete profile), has been frequently posted, shared, and reposted on social media sites including Tumblr, ffffound.com, and Reddit. The image has since been used to promote the bands MGMT, Incubus, The Arctic Monkeys, Max & Harvey, and The Moth & The Flame. The comments and captions of the Internet posts often reflect confusion about the date