(Newser)
– Millie Hughes-Fulford, an innovative astronaut and scientist who became the first female payload specialist to fly into space for NASA, died last week after a long battle with cancer, tell your family. He was 75 years old. Hughes-Fulford was selected by NASA for its astronaut program in 1983 and in June 1991 spent nine days in orbit on the Columbia shuttle, conducting experiments on the effect of space travel on humans as part of the first. mission of the agency dedicated to biomedical studies, STS-40. She and her crewmates circled the Earth 146 times, according to the AP. The research shaped the rest of his career and, upon his return, established the Hughes-Fulford Laboratory in San Francisco’s VA healthcare system, which worked to understand the mechanisms that regulate mammalian cell growth. “She returned to her world as a scientist and brought that experience of having flown into space and became a unique filter through which she went through all her scientific work,” said Dr. Mike Barratt, surgeon of NASA flight assigned to Columbia.
“She told me that when I took off on the shuttle I had no fear,” her granddaughter said. “Logically he thought about what his next job would be, and that’s how he dealt with everything, including his cancer.” Millie Elizabeth Hughes was born in 1945 in Mineral Wells, Texas. At age 16, she entered Tarleton State University, where she majored in chemistry and biology and was often the only woman in the class. The men didn’t appreciate it when he passed them on exams, his granddaughter said. After earning his doctorate in biochemistry, he applied to 100 academic jobs nationwide and got four answers. He accepted a laboratory position. In 1978, Hughes-Fulford responded to an ad in the magazine looking for applicants to be the first woman in space. She reached the last 20, of eight thousand applicants, before choosing Sally Ride, and then went to space in Columbia as a researcher. “Millie was an inspiration on so many levels, from the earth’s surface to low Earth orbit,” one colleague said. “He instilled every conversation with compassion, optimism, energy, humor and an unshakable confidence that a solution could be found.”
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