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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. Fisher was formerly the oldest active American astronaut. During her career at NASA, she has been involved with three major programs: the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station and the Orion project.

Biography

Although Fisher was born in New York City, she grew up in San Pedro, California, and considers it her hometown. 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 medical school and received her doctor of Medicine degree in 1976. She did an 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 in chemistry and received a master of science in chemistry from UCLA in 1987.

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:

• The development and testing of the Canadarm Remote Manipulator System (RMS) â€" commonly called the shuttle's "robotic arm"
• The development and testing of payload bay door contingency spacewalk procedures, the extra-small spacesuit, and contingency repair procedures;
• Verification of flight software at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) â€" in that capacity she reviewed test requirements and procedures for ascent, on-orbit, and RMS software verification â€" and served as a crew evaluator for verification and development testing for STS-2, STS-3 and STS-4.

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 would eventually fly in late 1984 on STS-51-A aboard Discovery. The mission deployed two satellites, and recovered two others whose PAM kick motors failed to ignite.

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, astronaut Dr. William Frederick Fisher, she had two daughters, Kristin Anne (b. July 29, 1983) and Kara Lynne (b. January 10, 1989). Dr. Fisher decided to take an extended leave 1988 to 1996 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 Of fice 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 now works jointly for the Capsule Communicator and Exploration branches of NASA, working as a station CAPCOM and on display development for the Orion project.

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.

Fisher became the first mother in space when she went up on STS-51-A.

Awards and honors

• National Science Foundation Undergraduate Research Fellowship in 1970, 1971
• Graduated from UCLA cum laude and with honors in chemistry.
• NASA Space Flight Medal
• Lloyd's of London Silver Medal for Meritorious Salvage Operations
• Mother of the Year Award, 1984
• UCLA Professional Achievement Award
• UCLA Medical Professional Achievement Award
• NASA Exceptional Service Medal, 1999.
• California Science Center Woman of the year, 1986
• UCLA Alumni of the Year Award, 2012

In popular culture

As an astronaut, before and after her flight assignments, Fisher did (and does) a number of public appearances per year. Those include official duties â€" Fisher spoke to visitors at the September 22, 2012 open house of Nasa's Langley Research Center. Those include semi-official duties â€" Fisher was a special guest at the 95th 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 â€" they appeared together with their daughter Kristin on an August 1983 segment of Good Morning America.

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 Muse, MGMT, Incubus, The Arctic Monkeys, Max & Harvey, and The Moth & The Flame. The British singer Kate Bush also wears a space helmet and similar pose in her 1991 video for Rocket Man. The comments and captions of the Internet posts often reflect confusion about the date and confusion about the publication history of the image.

References

 This article incorporates public domain material from websites or documents of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

External links

• 1977 JSC Roundup paper announcing astronaut applicant "Anna L. Sims", born in "Albany, N.Y."
• NASA Picks Six Women Astronauts with the Message: You're Going a Long Way, Baby February 6, 1978 Feature in People Magazine
• Whatever Happened to Old So-and-So? Here's An Update on Some 1978 Personalities December 25, 1978 issue of People Magazine
• Anna Fisher congratulates Jill Brown for qualifying as a commercial pilot Ebony - Aug 1978 - Page 58 via Google Books
• A Marriage That Was Made for The Heavens; Couple in the News Couple Feature Discounted A Big Drop in Salaries A June 3, 1980 New York Times Style Section Feature on Anna and Bill Fisher written by Judy Klemesrud. The story was syndicated in The Virgin Island Daily News and is viewable in its entirety in Google News.
• America's Rookie Astronauts New Scientist - Oct 1, 1981 - Page 15 via Google Books
• How Shuttle Astronauts are Preparing for the World's Most Way-Out Job Popular Science - Feb 1982 - Page 74 via Google Books
• Next, A Mission to Search and Recover New Scientist - Aug 23, 1984 - Page 4 via Google Books
• Anna Fisher Hugging Her Daughter Kristin on A1 of The New York Times November 17, 1984 as part of a feature story by John Noble Wilford.
• Saving Satellites Is Becoming a Fisher Family Specialty August 31, 1985 story by Lee Dye in the Los Angeles Times.
• San Pedro Parade : Shuttle Astronaut Lands in Hometown to Lead Celebration September 25, 1988 story by Bob Williams in the Los Angeles Times.
• 2012 interview on the 28th anniversary of her mission in space.
• 2015-02-11 interview with Ross Glacken from the Interviews With Interesting People series.