Group 8 (1978)
Judith Resnik
The second American woman in space; electrical engineer and Challenger mission specialist.
Judith Resnik, an electrical engineer with a doctorate from the University of Maryland, became the second American woman in space on the maiden flight of Discovery in 1984, where she operated the shuttle’s robotic arm.
Known for her fierce intelligence and dislike of celebrity, Resnik was a mission specialist on STS-51-L. She was 36 when Challenger was lost. IEEE’s top award for space engineering bears her name.