The astronaut Judith A. Resnik (1949-1986) became the second American woman in space in 1984, on the maiden flight of the orbiter "Discovery". She logged 145 hours in space on that mission, at what should have been the beginning of a promising career. But on January 28, 1986, only seconds after liftoff during her second mission, Resnik died in the tragic explosion of the space shuttle "Challenger". Six other astronauts perished with her, nine miles above the Atlantic Ocean, leaving a country shocked and mourning.

The daughter of Russian Jewish immigrants, Judith A. Resnik was born and raised in an affluent neighborhood of Akron, Ohio. Her parents were Marvin Resnik, an optometrist, and Sarah Resnik. She had one brother, Charles, who was four years younger.   Resnik attended Firestone High School in Akron, where she was a diligent student who excelled in mathematics and played classical piano. The valedictorian of Firestone's class of 1966, Resnik was described by friends as popular and meticulous, rolling her hair in orange-juice cans to straighten her curls and attaining perfect scores on her college entrance exams. "She seemed more focused than most of the teenagers I knew," high-school music teacher Pat Pace told the New York Times. Raised in a Jewish household, Resnik attended Hebrew school and was bat mitzvahed in a local synagogue, though as an adult she did not practice Judaism and disliked any reference to her as "the first Jewish astronaut."   For people accustomed to seeing images of astronauts in space, Dr. Resnik's first space mission still caused some notoriety. Not only was she one of the first women in space, but in zero gravity, she displayed a halo of flowing locks, a startling sight to many viewers who were accustomed to seeing closely cropped men. During the flight, she was acclaimed for her weightless acrobatics and a playful sense of humor, once holding a sign reading "Hi Dad" up to the camera, and displaying a sticker on her flight locker that advertised her crush on actor Tom Selleck.

Since her death, Resnik has been awarded many posthumous honors. Numerous public buildings and facilities have been named after her, mostly schools and educational facilities, including a dormitory at her alma mater, Carnegie Mellon. The IEEE Judith A. Resnik Award was established in 1986 by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers and is presented annually to an individual or team in recognition of outstanding contributions to space engineering in areas of relevance to the IEEE. She was also honored by the naming of lunar crater Resnik, located within the Apollo impact basin on the far side of the Moon.