Anna Lee Fisher carries a unique legacy in the history of human spaceflight. Not only was she selected in the inaugural class of female astronauts for the Space Shuttle program, but in 1984, during Mission STS-51A, she became the first mother to fly in space.
In a recent interview with Susan Wise on the STARSLaunchPod, Dr. Fisher, a retired NASA astronaut and celebrated icon, reflected on her pioneering journey, the high-stakes mission that defined her career, and her current efforts to ensure the sustainability of the orbital environment.
The STS-51A: A Rescue Mission Against the Clock
Dr. Fisher’s flight aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery in November 1984 was remarkable because it accomplished something never done before: the retrieval of two functioning but mis-orbited commercial satellites.
The mission patch, which Dr. Fisher helped design with her crewmate, pilot Dave Walker, featured two satellites in the middle—representing the two they deployed—and five stars for the crew. Significantly, Dr. Fisher added a sixth star for her daughter, Kristen, since she was the first mother to fly in space.
The crew’s primary challenge was logistical. The two satellites scheduled for retrieval were not designed to be brought back by the shuttle’s robotic arm, as they lacked the necessary grapple fixture.
“What was really fun was we were part of the development effort to figure out how we were going to do that,” Dr. Fisher explained. Her crew mate, Dale Gardner, conceived the idea of attaching a specialized device—nicknamed a “stinger“—to the front of the maneuvering unit. This stinger would dock with the nozzle end of the satellite, allowing for retrieval.
The entire development of this new hardware, procedures, and training took place in a remarkably short period, between the satellites’ deployment in February 1984 and the mission launch in November of the same year. Dr. Fisher loved the opportunity to work on something that no one had done before.
The mission lasted nearly eight days. Dr. Fisher noted that shuttle missions were significantly shorter than current operations, as the longest the shuttle could stay on orbit was only around two weeks.
Training While Mothering
Dr. Fisher was assigned to her flight two weeks before she delivered her daughter, Kristen. Her daughter was 14 months old when she launched.
She recalled her surprise when her boss assigned her to a mission, but she “was not about to say no,” as becoming an astronaut had been her dream since childhood.
She found herself being a new mom and training for her first space mission simultaneously. While she won’t say it was easy, it was possible because she was doing the two things she loved most at the same time.
That love of space seems to be hereditary. Her daughter, Kristen Fisher, now covers space for CNN and hosts her own podcast, The Endless Void with Kristen Fisher on YouTube. Dr. Fisher is currently working on setting up a mother-daughter trip on Blue Origin.
The Unforeseen Path to NASA
Dr. Fisher’s entry into the space program was a combination of dedication and chance. She was the first person in her family to go to college, starting at UCLA in math, moving to chemistry, and eventually completing medical training.
Since becoming an astronaut did not seem realistic when she was younger, she pursued medicine, thinking she might use her background to become a doctor on a space station.
Her life took a sudden turn during a chance lunch conversation with a medical school friend, Dr. Mark Mesakowski. He had seen NASA was looking for astronauts—specifically Mission Specialists—for the new Space Shuttle program.
She quickly gathered her application and submitted it a day before the deadline. Six weeks later, she was interviewing for the job she had dreamed about since she was 12 years old, when she listened to Alan Shepard’s suborbital mission in May 1961. Six months after the interview, she was selected for the first class of astronauts chosen specifically for the Space Shuttle program and the first class that included women.
She finds it both neat and “scary” to realize her life turned on such chance events, emphasizing that she was fortunate to be in the right place at the right time.
Tackling Debris and Inspiring STEM
Dr. Fisher retired from NASA in April 2017. She now focuses her time on speaking engagements, particularly encouraging young people, and young women specifically, to pursue careers in STEM fields.
She also dedicates her time to a significant global problem: space debris.
Dr. Fisher serves on the Board of Advisors for a company called KMI, which is working to solve the problem of space debris. Since the launch of Sputnik in 1957, the Earth has become surrounded by a cloud of functioning and non-functioning satellite debris.
“We want to be a responsible partner taking care of space and make sure that we do it responsibly and we really haven’t done that in the past,” she affirmed.
Persistence: The Most Important Lesson
Looking back, Dr. Fisher describes her two primary “aha moments”: deciding she wanted to be an astronaut at age 12, when the career barely existed, and the surreal moment when her selection was announced. She recalled standing with her colleague, Judy Resnik, on a balcony overlooking the ocean, asking, “Is this real did this really just happen that we just got announced to be astronauts?”.
When offering advice, Dr. Fisher encourages listeners to dream big and not be afraid of having a big idea.
She stressed the inevitability of setbacks: “There’s going to be failures along the way, everybody experiences failures”. For instance, she didn’t get into medical school the first time she applied. Her key message is persistence:
“Follow your dreams and and don’t give up if there’s a setback… just believe in yourself and and and don’t give up”.
She concluded with a forceful piece of wisdom: “If you don’t ask the answer is always no.”. She followed her dreams even when she had no role models to show that women could achieve them, proving that refusal to accept “no” can ultimately lead to orbit.
