The first group of astronaut candidates for the Space Shuttle Program was selected in January 1978. In July of that year, the 35 candidates began a rigorous training and evaluation period at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston to qualify for subsequent assignment for future Space Shuttle flight crews. This group of 20 mission specialists and 15 pilots completed training and went from astronaut candidate status to astronaut (active status) in August 1979. Six of the 35 were women and 4 were minorities.
The People
The 35 astronauts of the 1978 class are:
Guion S. Bluford, Jr., Daniel C. Brandenstein, James F. Buchli, Michael L. Coats, Richard O. Covey, John O. Creighton, John M. Fabian, Anna L. Fisher, Dale A. Gardner, Robert L. Gibson, Frederick D. Gregory, David S. Griggs, Terry J. Hart, Frederick H. Hauck, Steven A. Hawley, Jeffrey A. Hoffman, Shannon W. Lucid, Jon A. McBride, Ronald E. McNair, Richard M. Mullane, Steven R. Nagel, George D. Nelson, Ellison S. Onizuka, Judith A. Resnik, Sally K. Ride, Francis R. Scobee, Margaret Rhea Seddon, Brewster H. Shaw, Jr., Loren J. Shriver, Robert L. Stewart, Kathryn D. Sullivan, Norman E. Thagard, James D. van Hoften, David M. Walker, Donald E. Williams.
These two photographs show the 1978 astronaut class "in training". The photo above was taken at the Johnson Space Center during a classroom training session. The bottom photo was taken at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma, during a survival school-class session.
The Artwork
The idea fo a class patch came from Guy Bluford, who asked famous space artist Robert McCall to design the patch. McCall designed the STS-1 crew patch and Bluford piggy backed on that effort to have him design the Group VIII one as well. According to Bluford, there was no special symbolism in the design. (Bert Vis in "Spaceflight", October 2000, p. 410)
Spot the patch !!!
George "Pinky" Nelson in a T-38 when he arrived at KSC for mission STS-26. The second photo shows Sally Ride at KSC during the Space Shuttle Interface Test for STS-7 on 23 December 1982.
Some Fun
Above (left), astronaut Sally Ride aboard Space Shuttle Challenger during STS-7. Note that she is wearing a T-shirt with the TFNG logo (see artwork in center). STS-7 was the first flight in which members of the 1978 class flew (Hauck, Ride, Thagard and Fabian). The picture at right shows the shirt on astronaut Pinky Nelson, playing the guitar in the all-astronaut band Max-Q.
"...Several of the astronaut classes have nicknamed themselves. There is no requirement for this it just happens. My 1978 class of astronauts was the first group of Shuttle era astronauts, and we spontaneously began to call ourselfs the TFNGs, for Thirty-Five New Guys. (There's an obscene double entendre in these initials that most military veterans will recognize)..."
From: Do your ears pop in space?, By astronaut Mike Mullane.
"...Besides the patch, the group even had had its own T-shirt. Judy Resnik came up with a design showing a shuttle orbiter with 35 figures in, on and around it, and with the TFNG nickname and the class' motto: "WE DELIVER"..."
From: "Spaceflight", October 2000, p. 410, based on information given to Bert Vis by Jeffrey Hoffman
Source / Availability
The original 1978 astronaut class patch is very rare, so far we have seen only one: we picked it up on eBay, where it was offered by an Air Force veteran living in Florida. There are two different souvenir versions of the patch available, one is orange like the original patch and the other is yellow. Both were made by Eagle One Aerospace/Cargo Bay Emblems and are still available from their site.
A Personal Story
Ron McNair:
..."In 1976, when (Ron)McNair received a brochure from NASA, his eyes lit up. The space agency, said the booklet, was looking for qualified scientists to train as mission specialists. McNair turned to his wife. "What do you think," he asked, about me becoming an astronaut?" Cheryl McNair thought for a moment, then she said, "You have the credentials...so try it." Ron McNair was 1 of about 8000 people to receive the NASA brochure. Characteristically ignoring his potential competition, he filled out an application for the space program. He was, reported his mother later, "Calm and confident" that he would be choosen. And he was. in January 1978, a NASA official called with the news: McNair, along with 34 others, had been accepted from a pool of 10,000 prospects as an astronaut candidate...
As one of the few blacks in the program, McNair found himself the object of more public atttention than he wanted. As usual, he focused on his work, ignoring the spotlight. McNair's friend and 1980 astronaut Charles Bolden said later, "I don't think Ron ever thought about it." In the Houston training program, McNair joined two other blacks, Frederick Gregory and Guion Bluford. Like McNair, Bluford was a quiet man, uneasy in the public eye. He did open up enough, however, to tell one reporter what he thought about the astronaut training program. "The job is so fantastic, you don't need a hobby, the hobby is...going to work."
McNair managed to say almost nothing in public about his feelings. Yet he never complained when reporters singled him out for questions. Not surprisingly, McNair's colleagues later remembered him as "the most quiet person in the class"...
From: Ronald McNair, Astronaut, page: 59-60.
Astronaut Mike Mullane tells his story:
When did you first want to be an astronaut, and how did you become one?
As far as I can remember (back in the early 1950s) I had an interest in the sky. My dad was in the Air Force and would take my brothers and me to the base and sit in airplanes, so perhaps this exposure planted the seed of being a pilot. In 1957 with the launch of Sputnik and the dawn of the space age, that dream changed. I wanted to be an astronaut. I was 12 years old. By the time I graduated from high school in 1963, the biographies of the early astronauts that I had read convinced me that I had to be a military test pilot to pursue my astronaut dream...
I took a commission in the Air Force with the intention of entering pilot training. Unfortunately, I was unable to meet the eyesight requirements and ended up as a Weapon Systems Operator flying in the backseat of a F-4. I was certain my dream of being an astronaut was over, since astronauts of that era had to be pilots...
In NASAs 1977 announcement to select astronauts for the Space Shuttle program, a new crew position appeared - Mission Specialist (MS) astronaut. Mission Specialist didn't have to be pilots!!!. I immediately submitted an application and was selected in the first group of Shuttle astronauts in 1978.
What is the astronaut candidate interview like?
The selection commitee interview is an informal, 1-hour, freeranging discussion in wich the committee members try to measure the individual's suitability for the astronaut program. They are particulary interested in determining if the applicant is team oriented. An interesting fact about the astronaut interview process is that the board asks all candidates to write a one-page essay on "Why I want to be an astronaut". Some people have written serious answers like I did, and others have composed humorous essays.
From: Do your ears pop in space?, By astronaut Mike Mullane.
Astronaut Rick Hauck:
How were you first introduced to the idea of becoming an astronaut?
I'd been interested in the space program the entire time that I was in the U.S. Navy, but I quite honestly thought that even NASA did select more astronauts, I'd be a little long in the tooth to be able to join. I was 33 years old when I finished my tour as a test pilot at Patuxent River in '74. But then, in 1977, NASA did announce that they were going to select a group of astronauts to augment the corps to fly Shuttle, and I saw that announcement when I was based on-board USS Enterprise. As a matter of fact, myself and thre other members of that crew wound up being selected into the program: myself, John Chreighton, Hoot Gibson and Dale Gardner were all on-board Enterprise at that time."
From: Space Flight News 28, April 1988.