NASA's First Space Shuttle Astronaut Selection

Unofficially they called themselves the TFNG, or the Thirty-Five New Guys. Officially, they were NASA''s Group 8 astronauts, selected in January 1978 to train for orbital missions aboard the Space Shuttle. Prior to this time only pilots or scientists trained as pilots had been assigned to fly on America''s spacecraft, but with the advent of the innovative winged spacecraft the door was finally opened to non-pilots, including women and minorities. In all, 15 of those selected were categorised as Pilot Astronauts, while the other 20 would train under the new designation of Mission Specialist. Altogether, the Group 8 astronauts would be launched on a total of 103 space missions; some flying only once, while others flew into orbit as many as five times. Sadly, four of their number would perish in the Challenger tragedy in January 1986.

In their latest collaborative effort, the authors bring to life the amazing story behind the selection of the first group of Space Shuttle astronau