43 Facts About Shannon Lucid

Shannon Matilda Wells Lucid was born on January 14,1943 and is an American biochemist and retired NASA astronaut.

Shannon Lucid has flown in space five times, including a prolonged mission aboard the Russian space station Mir in 1996, and is the only American woman to have stayed on Mir.

From 1996 to 2007, Lucid held the record for the longest duration spent in space by an American and by a woman.

Shannon Lucid was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in December 1996, making her the tenth person and the first woman to be accorded the honor.

Shannon Lucid is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, where she earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1963, a master's degree in biochemistry in 1970, and a PhD in biochemistry in 1973.

Shannon Lucid was a laboratory technician at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation from 1964 to 1966, a research chemist at Kerr-McGee from 1966 to 1968, and a research associate at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation from 1973 to 1978.

Shannon Lucid was the NASA Chief Scientist from 2002 to 2003 and a capsule communicator at Mission Control for numerous Space Shuttle missions, including STS-135, the final mission of the Space Shuttle program.

Shannon Lucid Wells was born in Shanghai, Republic of China, on January 14,1943, the daughter of Joseph Oscar Wells, a Baptist missionary, and his wife Myrtle, a missionary nurse.

Shannon Lucid was fascinated by stories of the American frontier and wanted to become an explorer.

Shannon Lucid concluded that she had been born too late for this, but discovered the works of Robert Goddard, the American rocket scientist, and decided that she could become a space explorer.

Shannon Lucid applied for jobs as a commercial pilot, but was rejected, as women were not yet accepted for training as commercial pilots in the United States.

Shannon Lucid then transferred to the University of Oklahoma, where she earned her bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1963.

Shannon Lucid was a teaching assistant in the University of Oklahoma's Department of Chemistry from 1963 to 1964 and a senior laboratory technician at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City, from 1964 to 1966.

Shannon Lucid then became a research chemist at Kerr-McGee, an oil company there.

Shannon Lucid sat for her final examinations two days after the birth of her second daughter, Shandara Michelle, in 1970.

Shannon Lucid went on to earn her PhD in biochemistry in 1973, writing her thesis on the Effect of Cholera Toxin on Phosphorylation and Kinase Activity of Intestinal Epithelial Cells and Their Brush Borders under the supervision of A Chadwick Cox.

Shannon Lucid then returned to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation as a research associate.

Shannon Lucid's was one of the first of 8,079 applications received.

Shannon Lucid was part of the third group of twenty applicants to be interviewed, and the first one that included women.

Shannon Lucid was involved with Spacelab 1 crew training, and the development of the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory at JSC and Rockwell International's Flight Systems Laboratory in Downey, California.

Shannon Lucid worked on the Hubble Space Telescope and rendezvous proximity operations.

Shannon Lucid was at Edwards Air Force Base as a member of the exchange crew for the landing of the STS-5 mission in November 1982.

Shannon Lucid was an astronaut support person at the Kennedy Space Center for the STS-8 mission in August 1983.

On November 17,1983, Shannon Lucid was assigned to her first flight, the STS-51-A mission.

Shannon Lucid would be the last of the six women in the TFNG group to fly.

Shannon Lucid used the RMS to deploy the Spartan satellite, which performed 17 hours of X-ray astronomy experiments while separated from the Space Shuttle, while Fabian handled its retrieval 45 hours later.

Shannon Lucid went to Saudi Arabia and shook hands with the king, but she stayed for only one day.

Shannon Lucid served as the CAPCOM for the STS-51-J mission in October 1985, the STS-61-A mission in November 1985, STS-61-B mission in November and December 1985, and the STS-61-C mission in January 1986.

In May 1990 NASA announced that Shannon Lucid was assigned to the crew of the STS-43 mission, which was scheduled to be flown in Discovery in April 1991.

On December 6,1991, Shannon Lucid was assigned to STS-58, the Spacelab Life Sciences2 mission.

On completion of this flight, Shannon Lucid had logged 838 hours and 54 minutes in space.

On March 30,1995, NASA announced that Shannon Lucid would be the second astronaut to stay aboard Mir, after Thagard, who arrived on the space station on March 16.

Shannon Lucid joined cosmonauts Yuri Onufriyenko and Yuri Usachov, neither of whom spoke English.

Shannon Lucid injected herself with an immune system stimulant and collected blood and saliva samples to study the effects of microgravity on the immune system.

Shannon Lucid left her books on Mir for later astronaut visitors, but they became inaccessible after the Progress M-34 collision in June 1997.

Shannon Lucid's stay on Mir was not expected to last so long but her return was delayed twice, extending her stay by about six weeks.

Shannon Lucid had a short cameo in the 1998 film Armageddon.

Shannon Lucid retired from NASA to take care of her husband Mike, who had dementia.

Shannon Lucid later wrote about this experience in her book No Sugar Added: One Family's Saga of Dementia and Caretaking.

Shannon Lucid wrote about her experiences on Mir in Tumbleweed: Six Months Living on Mir.

Shannon Lucid was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in December 1996, making her the tenth person and first woman to be given this honor.

Shannon Lucid was awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal in 1985,1989,1991,1993 and 1996; the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1988,1990,1992 and 2003 ; and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1994 and 1997.

Shannon Lucid was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1990, the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame in 1993, the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1998, and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2014.