Journalist-in-Space
There were 1,703 applicants for the program. Selections were made by the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication, administered by the College of Journalism at the University of South Carolina in Columbia. The chief program officer was Dean Emeritus Albert T. Scroggins. Here are listed all of the 100 regional semifinalists announced in April 1986. The list was reduced to 40 (*) on 14 May 1986. No final selections were ever made.
| Arkansas | ||
| * Michael Masterson | Little Rock | WHECO Media |
| California | ||
| * A. Blaine Baggett | Los Angeles | KCET-TV |
| Marcida Dodson | Irvine | Los Angeles Times |
| Susan Farrell | San Diego | KGTV-TV |
| * Timothy Ferris | Hollywood | freelance |
| Willard (Gene) Gleeson | Los Angeles | KABC-TV |
| * Michael Gold | San Rafael | Science 86 Magazine |
| * Richard Hart | San Francisco | KPIX-TV |
| Michael Hagedus | San Rafael | KPIX-TV |
| Patricia Klein | Chatsworth | Los Angeles Times |
| Martin Kimball Livingston | San Francisco | San Francisco Chronicle |
| * Thomas (Jay) Mathews | Pasadena | Washington Post |
| * Lee McEachern, Jr. | Greenbrae | KGO-TV |
| Michael Parfit | Santa Barbara | freelance |
| * Charles Petit | San Francisco | San Francisco Chronicle |
| John Popejoy | Los Angeles | KCOP-TV |
| Michael Rogers | Oakland | Newsweek |
| Jim Schefter | Playa del Ray | freelance |
| Douglas Struck | San Francisco | Baltimore Sun |
| Colorado | ||
| * Frederic (Ted) Conover | Denver | freelance |
| * Diane Eicher | Lakewood | Denver Post |
| John Meyer | Lakewood | Rocky Mountain News |
| Connecticut | ||
| Burton Bernstein | Bridgewater | The New Yorker |
| * Morton Dean | Ridgefield | INN |
| Gayle Young | Westport | UPI |
| District of Columbia | ||
| Warren Corbett | D.C. | BIZNET |
| Richard Gore | D.C. | National Geographic |
| * Anne (Kathy) Sawyer | D.C. | Washington Post |
| Marty E. Thornton | D.C. | Washington Post |
| * James Wooten> | D.C. | ABC News |
| * Storer Rowley | D.C. | Chicago Tribune |
| Florida | ||
| * Jay Barbee | Cocoa Beach | freelance |
| Thomas Fiedler | Miami | Miami Herald |
| * Robert Navias | Coral Gables | UPI |
| Mark Prendergast | Boca Raton | Fort Lauderdale News & Sun-Sentinel |
| Georgia | ||
| Thomas Mintier, Jr. | Atlanta | CNN |
| Illinois | ||
| * John Hockenberry | Chicago | National Public Radio |
| * Theresa (Terry) Anzur | Chicago | NBC News |
| Linda Yu (Baer) | Chicago | WLS-TV |
| Dennis Breo | Chicago | American Medical News |
| * Joan Esposito | Chicago | WLS-TV |
| Ronald Kotulak | Chicago | Chicago Tribune |
| Donn Pearlman | Chicago | WBBM-TV and Radio |
| Steven Vogel | Bloomington | WJBC-WBNQ Radio |
| Indiana | ||
| * Hal Higdon | Michigan City | freelance |
| Thomas Tuley | Newburgh | Evansville Press |
| Iowa | ||
| Mary Murray | Iowa City | Des Moines Register |
| Robert Shaw | Des Moines | Des Moines Register |
| Kansas | ||
| Mark Chamberlin | Wichita | KAKE-TV |
| Larry Hatteburg | Wichita | KAKE-TV |
| Maryland | ||
| Jon Franklin | Glen Burnie | freelance |
| James (Jim) Hartz | Chevy Chase | WNET-TV |
| Malcolm McConnell | Queenstown | Reader's Digest |
| Boyce Rensburger | Frederick | Washington Post |
| James Reston, Jr. | Bethesda | Newsweek |
| * Alexander Rossiter, Jr. | Columbia | UPI |
| Massachusetts | ||
| David Arnold | North Quincy | Boston Globe |
| J. Kelly Beatty | Chelmsford | Sky & Telescope |
| * Stanley Grossfield | Squantum | Boston Globe |
| * Caroline (Terry) Marotta | Winchester | freelance |
| Michigan | ||
| Dinah Eng | Troy | Detroit News |
| * Barbara Stanton | Detroit | Detroit Free-Press |
| Minnesota | ||
| Millard L. (Lew) Cope | Bloomington | Minneapolis Star-Tribune |
| * Jim Klobuchar | Minnetonka | Minneapolis Star-Tribune |
| Thomas Garrison | Minneapolis | KSTP-TV |
| Linda Kohl | St. Paul | St. Paul Pioneer Press |
| Missouri | ||
| Diane Ackerman | St. Louis | Parade Magazine |
| * Robert White II | Mexico | Mexico Ledger |
| Al Wilman | St. Louis | KMOX-TV |
| New York | ||
| Robert Bazell | New York | NBC News |
| * William Blakemore | New York | ABC News |
| * Walter Cronkite | New York | CBS News |
| * Jerry Flint | New York | Forbes Magazine |
| Geraldo Rivera | New York | freelance |
| * Roger Rosenblatt | New York | Time Magazine |
| Peter Saigo | New York | WCBS-TV |
| * Lynn Sherr | New York | ABC News |
| Lindsey E. Van Gelder | New York | Ms. Magazine |
| * John Noble Wilford | New York | New York Times |
| North Carolina | ||
| Frank Tursi | Clemmons | Winston-Salem Journal |
| Oklahoma | ||
| Charles Sasser | Gore | freelance |
| Pennsylvania | ||
| Mark Bowden | Philadelphia | Philadelphia Inquirer |
| Maximo Gomez | Philadelphia | KYW-TV |
| Dorothy Storck | Philadelphia | Philadelphia Inquirer |
| Rhode Island | ||
| Mark Patinkin | Providence | Providence Journal |
| Texas | ||
| * Paul Recer | Houston | Associated Press |
| Steven Gauvain | Houston | KTRK-TV |
| * James Asker | Houston | Houston Post |
| Chris Rene Marrou | Boerne | KENS-TV |
| Robert (Chip) Moody II | Houston | KHOU-TV |
| Alcestis Oberg | Dickenson | freelance |
| Daniel O'Rourke | Houston | KPRC-TV |
| Scott Pelley | Dallas | KFAA-TV |
| * Colice Kathryn (Katie) Sherrod | Fort Worth | Fort Worth Star-Telegram |
| Virginia | ||
| * Marcia Bartusiak | Norfolk | freelance |
| * Barry Serafin | Fairfax | ABC News |
| * James Snyder (Jim Slade) | McLean | MBS |
| Washington | ||
| Steven Goldsmith | Seattle | Seattle Post-Intelligencer |
| * Peter Rinearson | Seattle | Seattle Times |
| Wisconsin | ||
| * Paul Hayes | Milwaukee | Milwaukee Journal |
