Shannon Lucid
Shannon Lucid was born on January 14, 1943, in Shanghai, China, but considers Bethany, Oklahoma, to be her hometown.
Lucid graduated from Bethany High School, Bethany, Oklahoma, in 1960 then received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the University of Oklahoma in 1963, and master of science and doctor of philosophy degrees in biochemistry from the University of Oklahoma in 1970 and 1973, respectively.
After working as a teaching assistant then as a research associate with the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, Lucid was selected to the astronaut candidate training program in 1974.
Dr. Lucid became an astronaut in August of 1979. She served as a mission specialist on STS-51G (June 17-24, 1985), STS-34 (October 18-23, 1989), STS-43 (August 2-11, 1991), STS-58 (October 18 to November 1, 1993), and served as a Board Engineer 2 on Russia's Space Station Mir.
Dr. Lucid currently holds the United States single mission space flight endurance record on the Russian Space Station Mir. Following a year of training in Star City, Russia, her journey started with liftoff at Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on March 22, 1996 aboard STS-76 Atlantis. Following docking, she transferred to the Mir Space Station. Assigned as a Board Engineer 2, she performed numerous life science and physical science experiments during the course of her stay aboard Mir. Her return journey to KSC was made aboard STS-79 Atlantis on September 26, 1996. In completing this mission Dr. Lucid traveled 75.2 million miles in 188 days, 04 hours, 00 minutes, 14 seconds.
From February 2002 until September 2003, Dr. Lucid served as NASA's Chief Scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington D.C.. She was responsible for developing and communicating the agency's science and research objectives to the outside world.
References:
- Shannon Lucid returned to Earth after her 188-day Mir mission on September 26, 1996.
