Judith Resnik (1949–1986) was an American electrical, software and biomedical engineer, pilot and astronaut who died in the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster in January 1986. Resnik was the fourth woman and second American woman to fly in space, logging 145 hours in orbit. With a PhD in electrical engineering, she worked for RCA as an engineer on Navy missile and radar projects, and for Xerox as a senior systems engineer. She published research on special-purpose integrated circuitry. At age 28, she was selected by NASA as a mission specialist in the first NASA astronaut group to include women. While training she developed software and operating procedures for NASA missions. Her first space flight was the STS-41-D mission, the maiden voyage of Space Shuttle Discovery which launched on August 30, 1984, during which her duties included operating the orbiter's robotic arm. Her second shuttle mission was STS-51-L aboard Challenger. She died when it broke up shortly after liftoff.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Resnik

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1959:

Writer and politician Abdul Muis became the first person to be awarded the posthumous title of National Hero of Indonesia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Hero_of_Indonesia

1959:

South Vietnamese opposition figure Phan Quang Đán was elected to the National Assembly, despite soldiers being bussed in to vote multiple times for President Ngô Đình Diệm's candidate. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phan_Quang_%C4%90%C3%A1n

1984:

Discovery, the third orbiter of NASA's Space Shuttle program, lifted off on its maiden voyage from Kennedy Space Center, Florida. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_Discovery

1992:

German racing driver Michael Schumacher won the Belgian Grand Prix, the first of his 91 Formula One Grand Prix wins. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Schumacher

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

fascine: 1. (chiefly construction) Originally a cylindrical bundle of small sticks of wood, and now often a bundle of plastic pipes, bound together, and used for strengthening purposes, such as in revetments for riverbanks, and in mats for dams, jetties, etc. 2. (specifically, military fortification) A similar bundle of sticks of wood or plastic pipes used for filling in ditches for armoured fighting vehicles to drive over, and for making parapets, raising batteries, and strengthening ramparts. 3. (figuratively, rare) Something which is used for defensive purposes. 4. (transitive, originally military, chiefly New Zealand) To use fascines to build or reinforce (something), or to fill in (a trench, etc.). https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/fascine

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

I call investing the greatest business in the world … because you never have to swing. You stand at the plate, the pitcher throws you General Motors at 47! U.S. Steel at 39! and nobody calls a strike on you. There's no penalty except opportunity lost. All day you wait for the pitch you like; then when the fielders are asleep, you step up and hit it.   --Warren Buffett https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Warren_Buffett