40 years ago this year NASA announced their selection of 6 women as part of the Group 8 astronaut class – the first new astronauts they selected since 1969, the year of the first moon landing. These six women , Sally K. Fisher , Margaret Rhea Seddon, and Shannon W. Lucid have authentically hand-signed this July 20, 1978 first day cover (FDC) for the Viking Missions to Mars 15 cent stamp. The cover is in very fine condition and includes the original informational insert. January 16 NASA Group 8. TFNG (Thirty-Five New Guys) USA. Mission specialists: Guion Bluford. Due to the long delay between the last Apollo. Mission and the first flight of the Space Shuttle. In 1981, few astronauts from the older groups stayed with NASA. Though some did, including John Young. Thus, in 1978, a new group of 35 astronauts was selected after 9 years without new astronauts, including the first American female astronauts, and also the first African-American astronauts to fly, Guion Bluford. The first black astronaut was Robert Henry Lawrence Jr. , as well as the first Asian-American, Ellison Onizuka. Was the first Army. Astronaut to be selected almost 19 years after the original Mercury Seven. Since then, a new group has been selected roughly every two years. Two different astronaut groups were formed: pilots and mission specialists. Additionally, the Shuttle Program. Has payload specialists who are selected for a single mission and are not part of the astronaut corps among them were mostly scientists, also a few politicians and many international astronauts. Of the first of the post-Apollo group, Sally Ride would become the first American woman in space STS-7. Later, she would fly with Kathryn Sullivan on a Shuttle flight, in which Sullivan would become the first American woman to perform an EVA. Thagard, who flew with Ride on STS-7, would later become the first American to be launched on a Russian rocket Soyuz TM-21. Or “Mir-18″ to the Mir. Space station, while Shannon Lucid would serve on the Mir for slightly over 6 months, breaking all American space duration records both the Skylab 4. Record and Thagard’s in 199697 until Sunita Williams. (who was selected 20 years later) broke Lucid’s record. Of this group, Scobee, Resnik, Onizuka, and McNair would perish in the Challenger Disaster. Of the astronauts chosen, Anna Fisher remained on active duty the longest, retiring in 2017 (although her tenure included an extended leave of absence from 1989 to 1996), while Robert Gibson and Rhea Seddon became the first active duty astronauts to marry (both are now retired). Shannon Lucid’s tenure was unbroken from 1978 until she announced her retirement in 2012 – in later years she served as a space shuttle CAPCOM. Up to the final day of the final shuttle mission. After the Challenger Disaster, Sally Ride would serve on both the Rogers Commission. And the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. I have other NASA-related items currently listed. The item “Hand-Signed 1978 First Day Cover First 6 American Women Astronauts/in Space NASA” is in sale since Sunday, February 17, 2019. This item is in the category “Collectibles\Autographs\Space”. The seller is “user32546″ and is located in Burnaby, British Columbia. This item can be shipped to North, South, or Latin America, all countries in Europe, all countries in continental Asia, Australia.