Judith Resnik

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Judith Arlene Resnik was born in Akron, Ohio on April 5, 1949. She was the daughter of Dr. Marvin Resnik and Sarah Resnik. She had one brother named Charles.

As a child Judith loved learning. Her parents started teaching her at a very young age. When she was ready for kindergarten, she could already read and do math. Her teachers had her skip kindergarten and to straight to first grade.

All during her school years her teachers continued to be impressed with her ability.

At home her father continued to teach her all he could about science and her mother taught her the piano and the social skills.

Judith graduated from Firestone High School in 1966. She had always loved science and math and decided to attend college at Carnegie Mellon University. In 1970 she graduated with a bachelor's degree in engineering. During the next five years Judith continued her graduate studies at night while working during the day as an engineer for the RCA Corporation.

However, She then went back to school full time to earn her doctorate in electrical engineering at the University of Maryland College Park.

In 1977 after earning her doctorate Judith applied to the NASA Space Program along with one thousand other woman. This would be the first time women would be allowed to enter the program. In 1978 Judith was one of four women selected to enter the program to become the first women astronauts. She was only twenty-nine years old and wanted to be the first woman in space.

For the next year she underwent training for Shuttle Mission Specialist. She worked various jobs at the Johnson Space Center during this time. On August 30, 1984 Judith made her first space flight aboard the maiden voyage of the shuttle Discovery. Even though she was not the first woman to go into space, she was the second. This mission kept her in space for seven days. During this time the Discovery made ninety-six orbits of the earth. Judith helped deploy satellites into orbit and was involved in biomedicaol research while on board.

Her next mission was on January 28,1986. It was the 25th U.S. Shuttle mission and the 10th for the Shuttle Challenger. Challenger lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Center in Florida at 11:38 AM. One minute and thirteen seconds later the external tank exploded and all seven crewmembers died.

Her claim to fame was that she was the second woman in space. The Society of Women Engineers has named one of their awards after her because of her help in making advancements in space.