Anna Lee Fisher

Fisher also served as the Astronaut Office representative on numerous Space Station Program Boards and Multilateral Boards. She was later assigned to the Shuttle Branch and worked on technical assignments within that branch. In 2012, she briefly made news when, during the landing of 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.

Before and after her flight assignments Fisher performed many public appearances per year; those included both official duties, such as when she spoke to visitors at the September 22, 2012, open house of NASA's Langley Research Center, and semi-official duties, such as when she was a special guest at the 99th Indianapolis 500 on May 24, 2015. Fisher and Bill 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 back cover of Redbook magazine.

Fisher was a CAPCOM from January 2011 to August 2013, and was the lead CAPCOM for ISS Expedition 33. As a management astronaut, she was involved in the development of the flight instruments display for the Orion project until her retirement in April 2017.

When Fisher returned to the Astronaut Office in 1995, she was assigned to the Operations Planning Branch to work on the procedures and training issues in support of the International Space Station (ISS). She was chief of the Operations Planning Branch from June 1997 to June 1998, and deputy chief for operations training in the Space Station Branch from June 1998 to June 1999. In these roles, she oversaw Astronaut Office inputs to the space station program regarding operations, procedures and training. She then served as chief of the Space Station Branch. In that capacity, she was involved in issues regarding the design, development, and testing of the ISS hardware.

After a leave of absence to raise her family from 1989 to 1995, Fisher returned to the Astronaut Office, where she worked on procedures and training issues in support of the International Space Station (ISS). She was a capsule communicator (CAPCOM) from January 2011 to August 2013, and the lead CAPCOM for ISS Expedition 33. She was involved in the development of the display for the Orion spacecraft until her retirement from NASA in April 2017.

A second daughter, Kara Lynne, was born in 1989. Kara had the rare distinction of being born after both parents had flown in space. From 1989 to 1995, Fisher took an extended leave from NASA to raise her family. There was no intention to take multiple years off; she took a year at a time. The Fishers divorced in 2000.

Following the accident, Fisher 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. She served on the Astronaut Selection Board for NASA Astronaut Group 12 in 1987, and in the Space Station Support Office, where she worked part-time in the Space Station Operations Branch. In this role she was the crew representative supporting space station development in the areas of training, operations concepts, and the health maintenance facility.

During an appearance at UCLA, Fisher mentioned that she had completed all the coursework required for a master's degree in chemistry, but students on the PhD track usually bypass their masters. Staff at UCLA checked their records, and Fisher was awarded her Master of Science degree in chemistry in 1987. She was initiated as an alumna into the Pi Beta Phi Fraternity for Women in 1989, at the San Diego biennial Convention.

Being in line to become the first mother to fly in space brought Fisher additional fame. In February 1984 she went to New York City to appear on the Today show. While there she heard that the STS-41-B mission had launched two Hughes HS-376 satellites. After the Payload Assist Module (PAM) of the first failed, leaving it in an unusable orbit, they had launched the second one, and its PAM had failed too. Asked specifically whether NASA would attempt to retrieve the two satellites, Fisher replied categorically that it would not. The HS-376 was the size of a small bus, with solar arrays and an apogee kick motor. It was not designed to be retrieved, so there was nothing for the RMS to grab on to, and NASA had never done anything like it before.

Discovery lifted off from Launch Pad 39A at KSC on November 8, 1984, on its second mission. Once Discovery was in orbit, Fisher performed the checkout of the RMS. Like many astronauts, she felt the effects of space adaptation syndrome and did not feel better until the third day. On the second day the crew deployed Telesat Canada's 1,237-kilogram (2,727 lb) Anik D2, an HS 376 communications satellite, using a spring-ejection mechanism. This was the first time that a Space Shuttle deployed a satellite at night. The following day they deployed the U.S. Navy's Leasat 1 satellite using the Frisbee-style mechanism that had been used to deploy Leasat 2 successfully on the STS-41-D mission.

Discovery touched down at KSC on November 6, 1984, after a flight lasting 7 days, 23 hours and 45 minutes, during which it had completed 127 orbits. Lloyd's of London awarded the crew its silver medal for those who "by extraordinary exertions have contributed to the preservation of property from perils of all kind." It had only been awarded five times since World War II, and this was the first time it had been awarded for a salvage operation that was not at sea. The medals were presented by President Ronald Reagan. Fisher was named "national mother of the year" by the Father's Day/Mother's Day Council, along with Martha Layne Collins, Clara Hale, Louisa Kennedy, Susan Lucci, Sarah Palfrey, Madge Sinclair and Frederica Von Stade.

In December 1984, Fisher was assigned to mission STS-61-C, a satellite deployment mission. The mission was scheduled for December 1985 on Columbia and would deploy the Westar 7 communications satellite for Western Union and the Satcom KU-2 communications satellite for RCA. It was commanded by Michael L. Coats. This time John E. Blaha was the pilot and Thagard and Robert C. Springer were fellow mission specialist. Fisher would reprise her role of flight engineer. The launch date slipped and the crew was reassigned to mission STS-61-H, which was scheduled to fly, with a different payload, in June 1986. That mission was canceled in the wake of the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in January 1986.

Fisher became pregnant in late 1982 while working as a Cape Crusader. She wanted to have children, and there was no certainty as to when she would be assigned to a space flight. She continued to fly to KSC in NASA T-38 jets until she informed Abbey when she was four-and-a-half-months pregnant, and he directed that henceforth she would have to fly on commercial jets, which she found very inconvenient. Four months later, Abbey summoned Fisher and her husband Bill to his office, and informed them that he was assigning her to a flight. This would make her the first mother to fly in space. She gave birth to her daughter, Kristin Anne, on Friday, July 29, 1983, and was back at work at JSC on the following Monday. The public announcement of the selection of Fisher and the other members of the crew of the STS-41-G mission was made on September 21, 1983. The crew was commanded by Hauck, who had piloted the STS-7 mission, and also included David M. Walker as the pilot, Fisher as the flight engineer (MS2), and fellow mission specialists Gardner and Joseph P. Allen. STS-41-G was tentatively scheduled for August 1, 1984. As the flight engineer, Fisher sat in the seat behind the commander and the pilot and assisted them during ascent, descent and landing.

On August 31, 1979, Fisher completed her training and evaluation period, making her eligible for assignment as a mission specialist on Space Shuttle flight crews, had there been any. NASA had already, on August 1, issued a call for another intake of astronaut candidates. Bill applied again. He had earned a Master of Science degree in engineering from the University of Houston and taken flying lessons to make himself more attractive to the program. This time he was accepted, and became part of NASA Astronaut Group 9. This made them the first married couple to be selected for astronaut training. She attended meetings of the astronaut spouses' club so the wives of her fellow astronauts would not feel threatened by her working closely with their husbands.

Fisher was selected as an astronaut candidate with NASA Astronaut Group 8, the first group of NASA astronauts to include women, in January 1978. She became the Astronaut Office representative for the development and testing of the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) and the testing of payload bay door contingency spacewalk procedures. For the first four Space Shuttle missions she was assigned to the search and rescue helicopters supporting the flights. For the next four missions, she was involved in the verification of flight software at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL), and was a "Cape Crusader"—one of the astronauts who supported vehicle integration and payload testing at Kennedy Space Center. She flew in space on the Space Shuttle Discovery on the STS-51-A mission in November 1984, during which she used the RMS to retrieve two satellites that had been placed in incorrect orbits.

In January 1978, Fisher received a call from George Abbey informing her that she had been selected as part of NASA Astronaut Group 8, and would commence on July 5. At the same time, he informed Bill that he had not been selected. Bill was the only unsuccessful applicant to be told of his rejection by Abbey; the job of informing unsuccessful candidates was normally delegated. Fisher was interviewed on television by Connie Chung. That night Bill took Fisher and Resnik, who had also been selected, out to dinner to celebrate. Bill and Fisher moved to Houston, where they bought a house in Clear Lake City. The new job involved a considerable pay cut; from earning about $50,000 per year (equivalent to $224,000 in 2021) as a surgical resident, she dropped down to a government salary of around $23,000 a year (equivalent to $103,000 in 2021). "It didn't matter what the pay was", she told People magazine. "To be an astronaut, I was willing to pay them."

Astronaut candidate training included learning to fly NASA's T-38 Talon jet aircraft. Mission specialist astronaut candidates like Fisher did not have to qualify as pilots, only ride in the back seat and handle an emergency if the pilot became incapacitated. Fellow TFNGs James Buchli and Dale Gardner, who were naval flight officers, drew up a training syllabus for mission specialist astronaut candidates like Fisher who had no aviation experience. Each was assigned to a pilot astronaut or astronaut candidate as an instructor; Fisher's was astronaut Ken Mattingly. The instructors took pride in the progress of their trainees, and attempted to convey some of their own love of flying. Fisher took private flying lessons, and soloed for the first time in November 1978. On one weekend day each month, she worked in the emergency room at Houston Methodist Clear Lake Hospital or Tampa General Hospital in Florida to keep her medical skills well-honed. To keep in shape she would do a 4-mile (6.4 km) run each day, lifted weights in the gym, and played racquetball.

For STS-1, the inaugural orbital spaceflight of the Space Shuttle program and the maiden flight of the Space Shuttle Columbia, Abbey decided that the five MDs of the 1978 and 1980 astronaut selections—Fisher, Seddon and Norman Thagard from the 1978 group, and Bill Fisher and Jim Bagian from the 1980 group—would be assigned to the search and rescue helicopters supporting the flight. These would be required if the Space Shuttle crashed or the astronauts had to eject. Fisher was based at the White Sands Test Facility, an alternative landing site. She performed this duty again at Edwards Air Force Base for STS-2, at White Sands again for STS-3 and at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for STS-4. For these four missions, Fisher was involved in the verification of flight software at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL). In that capacity, she reviewed test requirements and procedures for ascent, in-orbit, and RMS software verification. Fisher was a "Cape Crusader"—one of the astronauts who supported vehicle integrated testing and payload testing at KSC—for the STS-5 and STS-6 missions, and the lead Cape Crusader for the June 1983 STS-7 mission.

Another doctor at Harbor General was Mark Mecikalski, who followed the American space program. At lunch in June 1977 he informed Bill, who was now Sims's fiancé, that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) was conducting a selection of a new group of astronauts and recruiting doctors. Bill had Sims paged over the hospital loudspeaker system. They both applied, although they agreed that Sims had the better chance, due to her background in chemistry as well as medicine. They had three weeks to assemble the required documents and submit their applications. Sims posted hers the day before the deadline. NASA received 8,079 applications, and chose 208 for further screening. Sims was invited to come to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, for a week of interviews, evaluations and examinations, commencing on August 29, 1977.

A graduate of University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), where she earned a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 1971, Fisher started graduate school in chemistry, conducting X-ray crystallographic studies of metallocarboranes. 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, and chose to specialize in emergency medicine.

Sims entered the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), initially studying math. She decided that the job prospects were poor and switched to chemistry, graduating with her Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry in 1971. She then spent a year in graduate school, conducting X-ray crystallographic studies of metallocarboranes, and published three articles in Inorganic Chemistry. Noting a lack of employment opportunity for chemists who had earned PhDs, she decided to pursue medicine instead. The following year she moved to the UCLA School of Medicine, where she received her Doctor of Medicine (MD) degree in 1976. At the time, medicine was considered a "non-traditional" career for women, and there were only about 15 women in the medical school class of 150. She completed her internship at Harbor General Hospital in 1977. At Harbor General she met Bill Fisher, a fellow intern a year ahead of her. He too was a military brat—the son of a United States Air Force officer—and also hoped to one day fly in space. She chose to specialize in emergency medicine and worked in several hospitals in the Los Angeles area, doing eight 24-hour shifts per month.

On May 5, 1961, when Sims was in the seventh grade at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, her teacher brought in a transistor radio so the class could listen to the radio broadcast of Alan Shepard becoming the first American in space. For the first time Sims contemplated the notion of becoming an astronaut. It seemed out of reach, as all the Mercury Seven astronauts were military test pilots, a profession women were excluded from at that time, but she figured that by the time she was old enough there would be space stations, which would need doctors. When she was in high school she volunteered at Harbor General Hospital in Torrance, California, but did not let go of the dream of flying in space. She graduated from San Pedro High School in 1967.

Anna Lee Fisher (née Sims; 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 to fly in space. During her career at NASA, she was involved with three major programs: the Space Shuttle, the International Space Station and the Orion spacecraft.

Anna Lee Sims was born in Albany, New York, on August 24, 1949. Her mother Elfriede was born in Germany in 1918 but emigrated to the United States when she was sixteen years old. She went back to Germany to care for her grandmother, and was unable to return to the United States due to the outbreak of World War II. She served in the German military as a Morse code operator during the war. Afterwards, she worked in Berlin for the U.S. Army, where she met Riley F. Tingle. The two returned to the United States, where they were married in April 1949. Over the years the family moved about frequently, living on bases in the United States and Germany, and Sims grew up as an Army brat. She speaks German fluently.