Bidspirit auction | Astronaut Rhea Seddon STS-51-D, 40,

Astronaut Rhea Seddon STS-51-D, 40, 58 signed commemorative NASA cover. Missions STS-51-D, 40, 58. On July 8, 1976, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) issued a call for applications for pilot and mission specialist candidates. It was the first time that women were encouraged to apply. A colleague, Russ Greer, a neurosurgery resident who had worked at NASA and was aware that Seddon had expressed an interest in becoming an astronaut, informed Seddon of the selection process that was underway, and she decided to apply. She wrote to NASA and was sent an application form. She found that at 62 inches (157 cm) in height, she was just tall enough to meet the minimum height requirement of 60 inches (152 cm) for mission specialists. The application required three references, and she chose three people who had most strongly influenced her to that point: James Pate, the head of surgery at the hospital; Jose Guma, her flying instructor; and Jim Arnhart, the administrator of Rutherford Hospital. From 8,079 applicants NASA identified 208 for further screening, conducted in groups of about twenty. Seddon was contacted by Jay F. Honeycutt from NASA and was asked to come to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) for a week of interviews and physical examinations, beginning August 29, 1977. Her group of twenty applicants was the first one that included women. Among the eight women in the group were Anna Sims, Shannon Lucid, Nitza Cintron, and Millie Hughes-Wiley. Afterwards, she returned to the Memphis Veterans Administration Hospital, where she commenced a residency in plastic surgery. She soon changed course again after she developed a particular interest in the nutrition of surgery patients. In January 1978 journalist Jules Bergman asked if he could interview her on Good Morning America, and he revealed that she had been selected for astronaut training; Seddon received official word from George Abbey, NASA's Director of Flight Crew Operations on January 16. The names of the 35 successful candidates in NASA Astronaut Group 8 were publicly released later that day.