AL.com Montgomery native Kathryn Thornton took historic space flight on This Day in 1989 Alabama native Kathryn C. Thornton helped set an aerospace precedent for women when she launched with the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery on Nov. 22, 1989. In doing so, she became the first female crew member aboard Discovery. http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2014/11/montgomery_native_kathryn_thor.html