Margaret Rhea Seddon is an American surgeon and retired NASA astronaut. After being selected as part of the first group of astronauts to include women in 1978, she flew on three Space Shuttle flights: as a mission specialist on STS-51-D and STS-40, and as a payload commander for STS-58, accumulating over 722 hours in space. On these flights, she built repair tools for a US Navy satellite and performed medical experiments.
Seddon in 1992
Portrait from 1978
Practicing CPR during a zero‑G training flight
Seddon and Gibson with newborn baby Paul
STS-51-D was the 16th flight of NASA's Space Shuttle program, and the fourth flight of Space Shuttle Discovery. The launch of STS-51-D from Kennedy Space Center (KSC), Florida, on April 12, 1985, was delayed by 55 minutes, after a boat strayed into the restricted Solid Rocket Booster (SRB) recovery zone. STS-51-D was the third shuttle mission to be extended.
The crew attempt to activate Syncom IV-3 via a "flyswatter" device attached to Discovery's Canadarm
Back row: S. David Griggs, Charles D. Walker, Jake Garn Front row: Karol J. Bobko, Donald E. Williams, Rhea Seddon, Jeffrey A. HoffmanSpace Shuttle program← STS-51-C (15)STS-51-B (17) →
Telesat-I during deployment
Syncom IV-3 during deployment
