You are on page 1of 7

Judith Resnik

(April 5, 1949 January 28, 1986) was an American engineer and a NASA
astronaut who died when the Space Shuttle Challenger was
destroyed during the launch of mission STS-51-L.
Resnik was the second American female astronaut in space, logging 145
hours in orbit. She was also the first Jewish American in space, and the first
Jewish woman of any nationality in space.

She was a graduate of Carnegie Mellon University and had a Ph.D. in


electrical engineering from the University of Maryland. The IEEE Judith
Resnik Award for space engineering is named in her honor.

She received a B.S. in electrical engineering from Pittsburgh's Carnegie


Mellon University in 1970, the year she married fellow student Michael
Oldak.[1] They divorced in 1975.

In 1977 she earned a Ph.D. in electrical engineering at the University


of Maryland.

Resnik was recruited into the astronaut program in January 1978 by


actress Nichelle Nichols, who was working as a recruiter for NASA.[4] Her
first space flight was as a mission specialist on the maiden voyage of
Discovery, from August to September 1984.

Resnik has been awarded multiple posthumous honors, and has been
honored with landmarks and buildings being named for her, including a lunar
crater Resnik.

Space Shuttle Challenger (OV-99) broke apart 73 seconds into its flight, killing
all seven crew members She was very methodical. She knew where she was
going. She knew how to get the things she wanted from life.

She first went up in August 1984 as a member of shuttle Discovery, a six-day


mission to deploy three satellites. Resnik was the second American woman --
following Sally K. Ride -- to journey into space.

Both of Resnik's flights were marred by technical problems and delays,


Deason said. The first was delayed twice; the second, five times.

An uncle, Russ Resnik of Russell Township in Geauga County, said: "She was a
pioneer at heart. She did what she wanted to do. I guess you could say she
did her thing."
Resnik's childhood friend Roduner agreed: "I don't think anyone wants to die,
but she went off in a blaze of glory, doing just what she wanted to do."

But Dr. Resnik's reputation for hard work and professionalism did not reflect
the full range of her complex personality, according to people who knew her.
She captured the imagination not only because she excelled in a competitive
profession, but also because she did not seem to match any popular notion of
a NASA ''type.'' In the words of a stepsister, ''She wasn't all-American.''

She was extremely close to her father, her friends said, and had little to do
with her mother.

She was musically gifted, a perfec-tionist, and private. And she joined the
National Aeronautics and Space Administration, said her former husband,
Michael Oldak, because ''the space program presented the ultimate
challenge.''

''She was having the most fun in her life.'' If she ever considered the
possibility of an accident in flight, she was reluctant to acknowledge it. Carl
Glassman, who interviewed Dr. Resnik for a book, ''Dangerous Lives,'' said
she told him in a 1979 interview that ''it does not enter any of our minds that
we're doing something dangerous.'' She also said in that interview that she
had never spoken to her parents about their worries ''and I don't intend
to.''remember Judith Resnik as a serious student. ''When you thought of Judy,
you thought 'math, smart,' '' said Maxine Wasserman, a school friend.
''People had a lot of respect for her. She could be a lot of fun, but never silly.''
She was the only female member of the mathematics club and later disliked
having such distinctions pointed out.

Donald Nutter, who taught her solid geometry and calculus and was one of
her favorite teachers, remembers her as a student ''with a great zest for
knowledge'' who would never come to class unprepared. She was ''not
necessarily a pure mathematician by nature,'' he said, ''but with a good
thorough understanding of the material she could remember it and could use
it.''
She was also a classical pianist and ''knew how to direct her time,'' said Pat
Pace, one of her music teachers. ''She seemed much more focused than most
of the teen-agers I knew.'' Throughout her life, according to people who knew
her, she kept her home immaculate and her papers systematically filed.

As an adult, though, she did not affiliate herself with Judaism. The title ''first
Jewish astronaut'' was one ''she didn't like at all,'' said another of her
stepsisters, Linda Reppert. ''She did not practice Judaism.''

Friends and relatives say Judy Resnik's childhood was marked by family
scenes and arguments. ''She succeeded despite her family situation,'' said
her father, a slight man with a pencil mustache.

''She was very sharp, very articulate, but she didn't want to attract
attention,'' said Dr. Jordan, who is now provost of Carnegie Mellon. But still,
he said, she had a ''combination of brilliance and concern that was unique.''

''They wanted different things in life,'' said Connie Knapp, a close friend of Dr.
Resnik's. ''He wanted children desperately, and she didn't.'' The two
remained friendly, and ''whenever something important happened, Michael
called Judy,

Judith Resnik would be the second, but she evidently had little use for the
fuss over it. She wanted to be known as ''just another astronaut, period,'' she
once said, and, on another occasion, ''Firsts are only the means to the end of
full equality, not the end itself.'' Working Hard, Playing Hard ''She loved being
on the leading edge where everything was state-of-the-art,'' said her close
friend, Mrs. Knapp. Mrs. Knapp recalled that when she asked Dr. Resnik if she
had any fears about the program, Dr. Resnik said ''she just doesn't think
about it.''

Dr. Resnik's fellow astronauts enjoyed her company. ''She had a great sense
of humor,'' said Mr. Hartsfield, a member of Dr. Resnik's first shuttle team.
''We used to joke around all the time and Judy was right in the middle of it.''

''She was pretty special,'' said Michael Coats, who was also on that first
mission. ''She lived and she worked and she played very hard. She wasn't
perfect, she was headstrong, and she always had to get her two bits in. But
when she'd be all done arguing, she'd just smile and that'd be it.''

http://www.nytimes.com/1986/02/09/us/two-paths-to-the-stars-turnings-and-
triumphs-judith-resnik.html?pagewanted=all

http://biography.yourdictionary.com/judith-arlene-resnik

Sally Ride
was an American physicist and astronaut

she joined NASA in 1978 and became the first American woman in space in
1983. Ride was the third woman in space overall, after USSR cosmonauts
Valentina Tereshkova (1963) and Svetlana Savitskaya (1982). Ride remains
the youngest American astronaut to have traveled to space, having done so
at the age of 32.

After flying twice on the Orbiter Challenger, she left NASA in 1987.

Ride died of pancreatic cancer on July 23, 2012


Ride was one of 8,000 people who answered an advertisement in the
Stanford student newspaper seeking applicants for the space program.[7]
She was chosen to join NASA in 1978.[8] During her career, Ride served as
the ground-based capsule communicator (CapCom) for the second and third
space shuttle flights (STS-2 and STS-3) and helped develop the space
shuttle's "Canadarm" robot arm.[8]

Prior to her first space flight, she was subject to media attention due to her
gender. During a press conference, she was asked questions like, "Will the
flight affect your reproductive organs?" and "Do you weep when things go
wrong on the job?" Despite this and the historical significance of the mission,
Ride insisted that she saw herself in only one wayas an astronaut
On June 18, 1983, she became the first American woman in space as a crew
member on space shuttle Challenger.

Ride was the first woman to use the robot arm in space and the first to use the arm
to retrieve a satellite.

Sherr points out her intense competitive streak through a number of early moments, particularly
while on the court against instructors and classmates: she wasn't one to lose easily.
One teacher told her mind was too scientific, without much creativity, and that she was smart, but
wasted in science. Sherr reports that Ride was deeply upset at this (one of the few times anyone
would see her cry), and that it helped to reinforce her desire to continue to study physics.

Around this time, she began her first same-sex relationship. Even in times of reform,
homosexuality was extremely taboo, and it was simply something never discussed
with others.

Sherr notes that numerous friends and family members complained that she was
hard to know and that she was good at keeping certain parts of her life
compartmentalized. Her husband, Steve Hawley, explained that they were the
perfect match because they were similar: they were quiet, and not prone to
speaking when they didn't have anything to say.

Ride was a person of action, but not someone who spoke or explained herself after
the fact. Ride occupies the center stage throughout the book, but remains an
enigmatic figure, save for a couple of instances, when we see Sherr connect the dots
through interviews after the fact. Her missions in particular demonstrate her
enthusiasm and excitement, while her work on the Rogers commission demonstrates
her drive and anger.

She was a brilliant, mischievous enigma.


But the most surprising revelation was the one that came at the end of her obituary: that for 27
years, shed been in a loving relationship with another woman, Tam OShaughnessy

Christa McAuliffe
was an American teacher from Concord, New Hampshire,

In 1985, she was selected from more than 11,000 applicants to participate in the
NASA Teacher in Space Project and was scheduled to become the first teacher in
space

As a member of mission STS-51-L, she was planning to conduct experiments and


teach two lessons from Space Shuttle Challenger. On January 28, 1986, the shuttle
broke apart 73 seconds after launch. After her death, schools and scholarships were
named in her honor, and in 2004 she was posthumously awarded the Congressional
Space Medal of Honor.

As a youth, she was inspired by Project Mercury and the Apollo moon landing
program. The day after John Glenn orbited the Earth in Friendship 7, she told a friend
at Marian High, "Do you realize that someday people will be going to the Moon?
Maybe even taking a bus, and I want to do that!" [11] She wrote years later on her
NASA application form: "I watched the Space Age being born, and I would like to
participate."

She obtained her first teaching position in 1970, as an American history teacher at
Benjamin Foulois Junior High School in Morningside, Maryland

She was a social studies teacher, and taught several courses including American
history, law, and economics, in addition to a self-designed course: "The American
Woman".[17] Taking field trips and bringing in speakers were an important part of her
teaching techniques. According to The New York Times, she "emphasized the impact
of ordinary people on history, saying they were as important to the historical record
as kings, politicians or generals."

In 1984, President Ronald Reagan announced the Teacher in Space Project, and
McAuliffe learned about NASA's efforts to find the first civilian, an educator, to fly
into space.

"I cannot join the space program and restart my life as an astronaut, but this
opportunity to connect my abilities as an educator with my interests in history and
space is a unique opportunity to fulfill my early fantasies."

when asked about the mission, she stated, "If you're offered a seat on a rocket ship,
don't ask what seat. Just get on."
Stephanie Wilson
is an American engineer and a NASA astronaut. She flew to space on board three
Space Shuttle missions, and is the second African American woman to go into space,
after Mae Jemison

Selected by NASA as an Astronaut Candidate in April 1996, Wilson reported to the


Johnson Space Center in August 1996. Having completed two years of training and
evaluation, she is qualified for flight assignment as a mission specialist.

Wilson has flown on three shuttle missions. On STS-121, Wilson flew aboard as a
mission specialist. She also flew on the STS-120 mission that delivered the Harmony
connecting module to the International Space Station.[4][5][6] In April 2010, Wilson flew
as a Mission Specialist on STS-131.

You might also like