Judith Resnik, born April 5, 1949 in Akron, Ohio, was a veteran of two space shuttle flights. She was the second US woman in space and the first Jewish astronaut ever.
Her first flight was on Discovery (STS-41-D) as mission specialist August-September 1984. It was the first flight of the Discovery.
Her second flight was aboard Challenger (STS-51-L) as mission specialist on January 28, 1984. Unfortunately, Resnik and the rest of the crew were lost when Challenger exploded shortly after lift-off.
Front row (L-R): Richard Mullane, Steven Hawley, Henry Harsfield, Michael Coats
Back row (L-R): Charles Walker, Judith Resnik
Mission patch
Space Shuttle Discovery's maiden voyage (STS-41-D) was launched August 30, 1984. Its crew consisted of Commander Henry Harsfield, Pilot Michael Coats, Richard Mullane, Steven Hawley, Judith Resnik, and Charles Walker.
Resnik was the second US woman in space after Sally Ride.
Charles Walker, born August 29, 1948 in Bedford, Indiana, is a veteran of three space shuttle flights.
His first flight was aboard Discovery (STS-41-D) as payload specialist in August-September 1984. He was an employee of McDonnell Douglas and was the first commercially sponsored payload specialist.
His second flight was back aboard Discovery (STS-51-D) as payload specialist in April 1985. He spent almost 7 days in space.
Walker's third and final flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-61-B) as payload specialist in November-December 1985. A checkered flag was carried on board and is now on display at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Hall of Fame Museum.
Steven Hawley, born December 12, 1951 in Ottawa, Kansas, is a veteran of 5 space shuttle flights, logging over 770 hours in space.
His first mission was aboard the maiden voyage of Discovery (STS-41-D) as mission specialist August-September 1984. Portions of the mission were filmed for the IMAX motion picture The Dream is Alive.
His second flight was aboard Columbia (STS-61-C) in January 1986 as mission specialist. It was the last successful space shuttle flight before the Challenger disaster, which occurred only 10 days after Columbia landed.
Hawley's third flight was on Discovery (STS-31) in April 1990. During this flight, the Hubble Space Telescope was deployed.
His fourth flight was on Discovery(!) (STS-82) in February 1997. His primary role was to operate the Discovery's robotic arm to retrieve and redeploy the Hubble Telescope after upgrades and repairs.
Hawley's fifth and final flight was on Columbia (STS-93) in July 1999 as flight engineer. The Chandra X-ray Observatory was deployed during the mission.
Richard "Mike" Mullane, born September 10, 1945 in Wichita Falls, Texas, is a veteran of three space shuttle flights and has spent over 2 weeks in space. As a colonel in the Air Force, he flew combat missions in the Vietnam War in 1969. He was chosen by NASA to become an astronaut in 1978.
His first mission was aboard Discovery (STS-41-D) as mission specialist in August-September 1984. During this flight, three commercial communications satellites were deployed.
His second flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-27) as mission specialist in December 1988. During lift-off, the heat shield was damaged and impacted the right wing. They managed to complete the mission successfully and land on December 6 without incident. However, this same scenario proved fatal for the crew of Columbia 15 years later.
Mullane's third and final flight was aboard Atlantis (STS-36) as mission specialist February-March 1990. It carried a classified payload for the Department of Defense, like his previous mission.
After retiring from NASA, he wrote a book, Riding Rockets: The Outrageous Tales of a Space Shuttle Astronaut, which describes his experiences as a space shuttle astronaut.
Henry "Hank" Hartsfield, born November 21, 1933 in Birmingham, Alabama, was a veteran of 3 Space Shuttle flights, including one of the first, STS-4 aboard Columbia. In June 1982, he and Ken Mattingly made the final test run of the Space Shuttle program, which was the last time only two astronauts were aboard a shuttle.
His second flight was on Discovery (STS-41-D) in August-September 1984 as commander. Its initial launch date was June 26 but at T-6 seconds before blast off, the launch was aborted. Its mission was delayed over two months.
His third and final flight was aboard Challenger (STS-61-A) in October-November 1985. It was the last successful flight of the Challenger. He was commander of the only space shuttle mission to carry 8 astronauts for the entire mission.
Hartsfield passed away in July 2014 from complications due to back surgery.
