First Mother To Go To Space Was Pregnant When NASA's Offer Came

The moment Anna Lee Fisher had been waiting for came on a hot summer afternoon in 1983. Five years had passed since Fisher and five other women were chosen to become America's first female astronauts. But she hadn't yet been to space.

Her boss asked to see her in his office. He requested that her husband, who was also in the astronaut training program, come along, too. They sat down at his desk together.

"I'm thinking," her boss said, "of sending Anna."

This was what Fisher, then 33 years old, had wanted. There was only one little thing to consider - and it was currently growing inside her. On the day she was asked to climb into a shuttle and be blasted into the solar system, Fisher was eight and a half months pregnant.

She still didn't hesitate.

"I wasn't about to say no," she said last month in an interview with The Washington Post. "You don't say no to that offer."

And that was how Anna Fisher became the world's first mother to go to space. A few weeks after being chosen for a flight, Fisher gave birth to a daughter, Kristin.

She will soon mark the 35th anniversary of her flight, the day she became an inspirational figure to working moms everywhere - including to her daughter. Kristin is now a District of Columbia-based correspondent for Fox News and the mother of a 16-month old girl.

"I always grew up thinking I could have a demanding full-time job and be a mom," Kristin said. "The example that she set for me, it was never a question. It wasn't until I got pregnant and started thinking about the logistics that I started thinking, 'How did she do this?' "