Millie Elizabeth Hughes-Fulford, one of Mineral Wells most notable women, died today at the age of 75. She is most famous as the first American woman to launch into space who was a non-professional astronaut, but, rather, as a working chemist.
Millie was born on December 21, 1945, in Mineral Wells and died on February 4, 2021, in San Francisco, California. She was the Hughes-Fulford Laboratory director at the Veterans Affairs Medical Center in her city of San Francisco. The goal of the Laboratory is to understand the mechanisms which regulate mammalian cell growth. The beneficial knowledge of this work could help those suffering from a diversity of diseases ranging from osteoporosis to various forms of cancer.
Hughes-Fulford graduated from Mineral Wells High School in 1962 at the age of 16 and then earned her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Biology from Tarleton State University (1968) and her Ph.D. from Texas Women’s University in plasma chemistry (1972). Dr. Hughes-Fulford went on to join the faculty of Southwestern Medical School as a postdoctoral fellow with Marvin D. Siperstein, where her research focused on the regulation of cholesterol metabolism.
When interviewed concerning her interest in space travel, she stated, “I was watching Buck Rogers in 1950 when I was 5 years old, and their pilot was Wilma Deering. I wanted to be Wilma Deering because she could wear pants. At that time, a little girl could not go around wearing pants.”
Millie was selected as a payload specialist by NASA in January 1983. She flew aboard the STS-40 Spacelab Life Sciences (SLS 1), the first Spacelab dedicated to biomedical sciences. The mission flew over 3.2 million miles in 146 orbits, and its crew completed more than 18 experiments during a nine-day period, which yielded more medical data than on any previous NASA flight. The mission’s duration was 218 hours, 14 minutes, and 21 seconds.
If you knew Millie as a friend or classmate and have a thought to share, please let us know by writing to news@gooddaymineralwells.com
Sources:
wikipedia.org/wiki/Millie-Hughes-Fulford | www.hughtsfulfordlab.com | http://www.collectspace.com/news/news-020421a-millie-hughes-fulford-payload-specialist-obituary.html |
