Mary Cleave, Space Explorer Who Witnessed Earth's Decline, Passes Away at 76

Mary Cleave, an astronaut who flew on two space shuttle missions in the 1980s, passed away at the age of 76. Witnessing the deteriorating state of the Earth from space, particularly the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest, prompted her to shift her focus to environmental research for NASA. After retiring as an astronaut, she managed a project at the Goddard Space Flight Center that studied the impact of global warming on the oceans. Cleave's passion for science and her concern for the Earth's rapid changes made her a force of nature in her field.