Rachel Fincher

Rachel Fincher was a member of the NASA Board of Directors and NASA's candidate for the Suspended Animation Program, or the Archproject Voyager Program. She was the optimal candidate for the program, as she was in perfect mental and physical health, and she was first cousins with Neil Armstrong, the first man to step foot on the moon.

Early Life
Rachel was born to Sarah and Joel Fincher in 1927 in the suburbs of Richmond, Virginia. She grew up in a very tight-knit community for the first 13 years of her life until in 1940, her father moved to Washington, D.C after he got a job at the F.B.I. The move was extremely hard on her and her mother, while her father immediately moved. It was discovered by her when she was visiting her dad in D.C that her parents were separating and he was dating a new woman named Megan West, who was pregnant with her and her father's child. She was outraged, and decided to stay with her mother in Richmond until she graduated from high school.

Relationship with Jake
After Rachel graduated from high school in 1945, she started college at the University of Maryland and met her eventual husband, Jake Fincher. Their relationship blossomed until in 1949, Jake asked Rachel to marry her. She accepted, and they were married on April 24, 1950 in Virginia Beach, Virginia, where they would eventually settle down and start their family.

Involvement with NASA
In 1957, Rachel was approached by the president, Dwight D. Eisenhower, about the formation of NASA. She was asked to be a member of the board of directors, and with some hesitation, Fincher accepted. Her and her family were moved closer to Washington, D.C, the home of the NASA headquarters and her new work.

Involvement with the Archproject
For the next 17 years, Fincher was a member of the NASA Board of Directors until in 1973, NASA director James C. Fletcher asked her if she could go under training for the Suspended Animation Program. At first, Fincher declined, but with persuasion from her husband, she went to Director Fletcher with her decision, but to her shock, her cousin, Neil Armstrong, accepted the role and was about to begin training. She went to him and pleaded for the role, and after some persuasion, Armstrong handed it over to her and she began training.