TFNG 2012 Was a Hard Year for American Astro- Together

EDITORIAL Sheila Williams TFNG 2012 was a hard year for American astro- together. I just looked at it as science fic- nauts. In last month’s editorial, I wrote tion, ’cause that wasn’t going to happen, about Janice Voss, an astronaut who died really, but Ronald saw it as science possi- in February and who once corresponded bility.” The reporters who peppered Sally with us about her love of SF—most espe- Ride and the other women at news con- cially the works of Isaac Asimov. Her ferences with ridiculous questions did death was followed by the loss of Ameri- not seem to be up on their SF or com- ca’s first woman in space, Sally K. Ride, in pletely prepared for this new breed of as- July, and Neil Armstrong, the first person tronauts. (I cannot find attribution for to set foot on the Moon, in August. While one of my favorites, which ran something I’m saving my thoughts about Neil Arm- like, “What would NASA do if Dr. Ride strong for another editorial, I decided to couldn’t find a comfortable position for focus this month’s essay on Sally Ride her knees on the Space Shuttle?” Her re- and some of the other members of NASA’s sponse: “Find an astronaut whose knees Astronaut Group 8. fit.”) Of course, the new breed was much When NASA selected thirty-five people like the old breed: brave and smart and for Space Shuttle training in 1978, it was ready to conquer new territory. the first new group of astronauts since Group 8 came to call themselves TFNG, the sixties. Some of these newcomers did which can be politely translated as “Thir- not seem to fit the NASA’s previous as- ty-Five New Guys,” and they were all tronaut mold. Kathryn D. Sullivan, the pretty awesome. Other members of the first American woman to perform an group included Guion Stewart Bluford, EVA, said in a 2007 interview with Jen- Jr., a test pilot with a Ph. D. in aerospace nifer Ross-Nazzal, “There had never been engineering from the Air Force Institute critters that looked like us, admitted into of Technology, “Guy” was the first African the astronaut corps.” The group looked a American in space; Judith Resnik, the lot like America, though. In addition to first Jewish American and second women what Dr. Sullivan refers to as “twenty- in space, held degrees in electrical engi- five standard white guys,” Group 8’s neering from Carnegie Mellon and the trainees included the first three African University of Maryland; Frederick D. American men, the first Asian American Gregory, the first African American to pi- man, and the first six American women. lot and command a space shuttle; Mar- I’m sure my father the vet and my sister garet Rhea Seddon, a medical doctor from the major would be happy to know that the University of Tennessee College of the group also included America’s first Medicine; Ellison S. Onizuka, with de- Army astronaut. grees in aerospace engineering from the Although the news was exciting and University of Colorado at Boulder, he was inspiring, it couldn’t have come as a sur- the first Japanese American in space; prise to those who’d read Robert Hein- Shannon Lucid, a Ph. D. in biochemistry lein’s Space Cadet or followed other sci- from the University of Oklahoma who ence fiction literature and television spent 188 days in space during her fifth series. In an interview for NPR’s Sto- and final spaceflight; and Anna Lee Fish- ryCorps in 2011 about his younger broth- er, a chemist and medical doctor, she is the er, and second African American in space, last remaining TFNG still on active duty. Carl McNair said, “As youngsters, a show Fourteen of The New Guys were pilots. came on TV called Star Trek. Now, Star The rest were mission specialists. They Trek showed the future—where there all shared a love of adventure and a zest were black folk and white folk working for space exploration that may be hard to put into words, but can be easily grasped seven astronauts who died aboard the by readers of Asimov’s. When Lynn Sherr Challenger were members of Group 8. asked Sally Ride why she wanted to go These included the commander, Francis into space, she replied, “I don’t know. I’ve Richard “Dick” Scobee, as well as Ron Mc- discovered about half the people would Nair, Judy Resnik, and Ellison Onizuka. love to go into space there’s no need to ex- A truly American crew, which meant the plain it to them. The other half can’t un- disintegration of the Challenger brought derstand and I couldn’t explain it to us a whole lot of heartbreaking firsts. them. If someone doesn’t know why, I Although she served on the commis- can’t explain it.” While the former test pi- sions that investigated the loss of the lots must all have known about the dan- Challenger and later the Columbia, gers that can’t be escaped when flying at Challenger’s destruction ended Sally the edge of the envelope, I’m sure all Ride’s career in space. She became a pro- members of Group 8 were well aware of fessor of physics and director of the Cali- the inherent risks of spaceflight. In a fornia Space Institute at the University 1998 interview with Scholastic.com, of California, San Diego. Sally Ride Sci- America’s first woman astronaut said, ence and Sally Ride Science Camp for “When you’re getting ready to launch girls, organizations that she co-founded into space, you’re sitting on a big explo- with her partner Tam O’Shaughnessy sion waiting to happen. So most astro- and others, continue to “educate, engage, nauts getting ready to lift off are excited and inspire” numerous fourth through and very anxious and worried about that eighth grade students. explosion—because if something goes Sally K. Ride and all TFNG contributed wrong in the first seconds of launch, to a legacy that will turn children into there’s not very much you can do.” scientists and astronauts for generations The first in-flight loss of American life to come. occurred on January 28, 1986. Four of the