Shannon Lucid
Shannon Lucid | |
---|---|
Born | Shannon Matilda Wells January 14, 1943 Shanghai, Republic of China |
Education | |
Awards | |
Space career | |
NASA astronaut | |
Time in space | 223d 2h 50m |
Selection | NASA Group 8 (1978) |
Missions | STS-51-G STS-34 STS-43 STS-58 STS-76/STS-79 (Mir EO-21/22) |
Mission insignia | |
Scientific career | |
Thesis | Effect of Cholera Toxin on Phosphorylation and Kinase Activity of Intestinal Epithelial Cells and Their Brush Borders (1973) |
Doctoral advisor | Chadwick Cox |
Shannon Matilda Wells Lucid
Lucid is a graduate of the
In 1978, Lucid was recruited by NASA for
Early life
Shannon Wells was born in Shanghai, Republic of China, on January 14, 1943,
After the war ended, the family returned to China but decided to leave again after the
Wells attended Wheaton College in Illinois, where she majored in chemistry. She then transferred to the University of Oklahoma, where she earned her bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1963. She 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. She then became a research chemist at Kerr-McGee, an oil company there.[4][6] At Kerr-McGee she met Michael F. Lucid, a fellow research chemist. They married in 1967,[9] and their first child, Kawai Dawn, was born in 1968.[4][10]
Afterward, Lucid left Kerr-McGee and returned to the University of Oklahoma as graduate assistant in the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, where she pursued a master's degree in biochemistry. She sat for her final examinations two days after the birth of her second daughter, Shandara Michelle, in 1970.[4][10] She 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.[11][12] She then returned to the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation as a research associate.[3] A third child, Michael Kermit, was born in 1975.[10]
NASA career
Selection and training
On July 8, 1976, the
As one of 208 finalists,[17] Lucid was invited to come to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston, Texas, for a week of interviews, evaluations and examinations, commencing on August 29, 1977. She was part of the third group of twenty applicants to be interviewed, and the first one that included women. The eight women in the group included Rhea Seddon, Anna Sims, Nitza Cintron and Millie Hughes-Wiley.[18] On January 16, 1978, NASA announced the names of the 35 successful candidates, of whom 20 were mission specialist candidates.[17] Of the six women in this first class with female astronauts, Lucid was the only one who was a mother at the time of being selected.[19] George Abbey, the Director of Flight Crew Operations at JSC and the chairman of the selection panel,[17] later stated that this was not taken into consideration during the selection process.[6]
Group 8's name for itself was "TFNG". The abbreviation was deliberately ambiguous; for public purposes, it stood for "Thirty-Five New Guys", but within the group itself, it was known to stand for the military phrase, "
Astronaut candidates had to complete survival training, be able to swim and
Each of the new astronauts specialized in certain aspects of the Space Shuttle program, providing astronaut support and input. Lucid was involved with
STS-51-G
On November 17, 1983, Lucid was assigned to her first flight, the STS-51-A mission. Tentatively scheduled for October 24, 1984, the mission would be commanded by
STS-51-G lifted off from Launch Complex 39A at KSC in the Space Shuttle Discovery on June 17, 1985. The seven-day mission was to deploy three communications satellites: Morelos I for Mexico, Arabsat-1B for the Arab League, and Telstar 303 for the United States.[37] The satellites were launched on successive days during the first three days of the mission. Lucid and Fabian operated the Remote Manipulator System (RMS) to deploy the satellites, which were boosted into geostationary transfer orbits by Payload Assist Module (PAM-D) booster stages.[38]
Lucid also used the RMS to deploy the Spartan (Shuttle Pointed Autonomous Research Tool for Astronomy) satellite, which performed 17 hours of X-ray astronomy experiments while separated from the Space Shuttle, while Fabian handled its retrieval 45 hours later.[38][39] In addition to the satellite deployments, the crew activated the Automated Directional Solidification Furnace (ADSF), six Getaway Specials and participated in biomedical experiments. Discovery landed at Edwards Air Force Base in California on June 24. The mission was accomplished in 112 orbits of the Earth, traveling 4.7 million kilometers (2.9 million miles) in 169 hours and 39 minutes (just over one week).[37]
The publicity tour that usually followed a Space Shuttle mission included a trip to Saudi Arabia. Married women were not permitted to travel to Saudi Arabia without their husband, and Michael Lucid was unavailable, so Lucid decided not to go. A devout Christian, she disapproved of the way Saudi Arabia treated women. When the rest of the crew arrived in Riyadh, her absence was noted. This prompted a call from King Fahd of Saudi Arabia to President Ronald Reagan. Lucid went to Saudi Arabia and shook hands with the king, but she stayed for only one day.[40][41]
STS-34
After the STS-51-G mission, Lucid was assigned to
On November 30, 1988, NASA announced that Galileo would be deployed by the Space Shuttle
As the lead mission specialist, Lucid was primarily responsible for the Galileo spacecraft,[49] and initiated its deployment by pressing a button to separate Galileo from Atlantis.[50] Galileo was successfully deployed six and a half hours into the flight using the Inertial Upper Stage (IUS). As this was much less powerful than the Shuttle-Centaur upper stage, Galileo had to employ a gravity assist from Venus and two from Earth, and it took six years instead of two for the Galileo to reach Jupiter.[49][48] "Both Ellen and I sighed a great sigh of relief, because we figured Galileo was not our concern at that point, because we'd gotten rid of it," Lucid reported. "Happiness was an empty payload bay and we got happier and happier as the IUS and Galileo went further away from us."[51]
The mission also conducted a five-day Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultraviolet (SSBUV) experiment carried in the cargo bay, and experiments related to growth hormone crystal distribution (GHCD) and polymer morphology (PM), a sensor technology experiment (STEX), a mesoscale lightning experiment (MLE), a Shuttle Student Involvement Program (SSIP) experiment that investigated ice crystal formation in zero gravity, and a ground-based
STS-43
In May 1990 NASA announced that Lucid was assigned to the crew of the
The launch date was postponed to July 23, and the orbiter was changed to Atlantis. The launch was delayed by a day to replace a faulty integrated electronics assembly that controlled the separation of the orbiter and the
The crew deployed TDRS-E without incident using the IUS.[54] The crew also conducted 32 physical, material and life science experiments, mostly related to the Extended Duration Orbiter and Space Station Freedom.[3] These included experiments with the Space Station Heat Pipe Advanced Radiator Element II (SHARE II), the Shuttle Solar Backscatter Ultra-Violet (SSBUV) instrument, Tank Pressure Control Equipment (TPCE), and Optical Communications Through Windows (OCTW). There was also an auroral photography experiment (APE-B), a protein crystal growth experiment, testing of the bioserve / instrumentation technology associates materials dispersion apparatus (BIMDA), investigations into polymer membrane processing (IPMP), the space acceleration measurement system (SAMS), a solid surface combustion experiment (SSCE), use of the ultraviolet plume imager (UVPI); and the Air Force Maui optical site (AMOS) experiment.[55]
Atlantis performed 142 orbits of the Earth, traveling 6.0 million kilometers (3.7 million miles) in 213 hours and 21 minutes.[54] STS-43 was the eighth mission to land at KSC, and the first one scheduled to do so since STS-61-C in January 1986.[55]
STS-58
On December 6, 1991, Lucid was assigned to
The Space Shuttle Columbia with SLS-2 on board lifted off from KSC on October 18, 1993. During the fourteen-day flight the crew performed neurovestibular, cardiovascular, cardiopulmonary, metabolic and musculoskeletal medical experiments on themselves and 48 rats.[61] The crew investigated the phenomenon of bone density loss. They also studied the effects of microgravity on their sensory perception, and the mechanism of space adaptation syndrome. To study this, on the second day of the mission Lucid and Fettman wore headsets, known as accelerometer recording units, which recorded their head movements during the day. Along with Seddon, Wolf and Fettman, Lucid collected blood and urine samples from the crew for metabolic experiments. They also drew blood from the tails of the rats to measure how weightlessness affected their red blood cell counts.[62] They performed sixteen engineering tests aboard Columbia and twenty Extended Duration Orbiter Medical Project experiments. The mission completed 225 orbits of the Earth, traveling five million miles in 336 hours, 13 minutes and 1 second. Landing was at Edwards Air Force Base, California.[61] On completion of this flight, Lucid had logged 838 hours and 54 minutes in space.[3]
Shuttle-Mir
In 1992 the United States and Russia reached an agreement on cooperation in space so that Russian
Lucid's mission to Mir commenced on March 22, 1996, with liftoff from KSC aboard Atlantis on the
In her free time, she read books. One novel she enjoyed immensely was
Lucid's return journey to KSC was made aboard Atlantis. The STS-79 mission docked with Mir on September 18, bringing Blaha as her relief, and landed back at KSC on September 26, 1996.[76] One of the catches that released her helmet from the neck ring became stuck, and technicians had to use pliers and a screwdriver to remove it.[4][77] During her stay on Mir, Lucid had spent nearly 400 hours exercising on a stationary bicycle and a treadmill, and was able to stand and walk off Atlantis. Administrator of NASA Daniel Goldin presented her with a giftwrapped box of M&M's, a gift from President Bill Clinton, since she had told him that she craved them.[4][78]
In completing this mission Lucid traveled 121.0 million kilometers (75.2 million miles) in 188 days, 4 hours, 0 minutes. This included 179 days on Mir.[3] Her stay on Mir was not expected to last so long but her return was delayed twice, extending her stay by about six weeks.[69] As a result of her time aboard Mir, she held the record for the most hours in orbit by a non-Russian, and most hours in orbit by a woman until June 16, 2007, when her record for longest duration spaceflight by a woman was exceeded by Sunita Williams on the International Space Station.[79][80]
CAPCOM
Lucid had a short cameo in the 1998 film
Later life
Lucid retired from NASA to take care of her husband Mike, who had dementia. He died on December 25, 2014.[83] She later wrote about this experience in her book No Sugar Added: One Family's Saga of Dementia and Caretaking (2019).[84] She wrote about her experiences on Mir in Tumbleweed: Six Months Living on Mir (2020).[85]
Awards and honors
Lucid was awarded the
Bibliography
- Lucid, Shannon (2019). No Sugar Added: One Family's Saga of Dementia and Caretaking. Vista, California: MkEk Publishing. ISBN 978-0-578-49541-5.
- Lucid, Shannon (2020). Tumbleweed: Six Months Living on Mir. Vista, California: MkEk Publishing. ISBN 978-0-578-67109-3.
Notes
- ^
- "Lucid, Shannon Matilda Wells". A Dictionary of Space Exploration (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. 2018. ISBN 9780191842764. Retrieved November 4, 2023 – via Oxford Reference.
- Moore, Bill. "Lucid, Shannon Matilda Wells". The Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture. Oklahoma Historical Society. Retrieved November 4, 2023.
- "Lucid, Shannon Matilda Wells". A Dictionary of Space Exploration (3rd ed.). Oxford University Press. 2018.
- ^ Shayler & Burgess 2020, pp. 108–109.
- ^ a b c d e f "Astronaut Bio: Shannon W. Lucid (Ph.D.), NASA Astronaut (Former)" (PDF). NASA. February 2012. Retrieved April 12, 2021.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i Begley, Sharon (October 7, 1996). "Down to Earth: After a record 188 days in space, Shannon Lucid was still standing. It was one large step for a woman, one small step for NASA's new breed of astronaut". Newsweek. Retrieved October 13, 2018 – via General One File.
- ^ Iritani, Evelyn. "The Gripsholm WWII Exchanges". Densho Encyclopedia. Retrieved August 26, 2022.
- ^ a b c d e Shayler & Burgess 2020, pp. 109–111.
- ^ Bredeson 1998, pp. 11–12.
- ^ Bredeson 1998, p. 14.
- The Courier-Journal. Louisville, Kentucky. September 27, 1996. p. 2. Retrieved August 28, 2022 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ a b c Bredeson 1998, p. 16.
- hdl:11244/3683.
- ^ Sokatch 2001, pp. 31–32.
- ^ a b "NASA to Recruit Space Shuttle Astronauts" (PDF) (Press release). NASA. July 8, 1976. 76-44. Retrieved September 17, 2020.
- ^ Foster 2011, pp. 20–21.
- ^ Atkinson & Shafritz 1985, pp. 134–135.
- ^ Shayler & Burgess 2020, p. 111.
- ^ a b c d Reim, Milton (January 16, 1978). "NASA Selects 35 Astronaut Candidates" (PDF) (Press release). NASA. 78-03. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
- ^ Reim, Milton (August 25, 1977). "Third Group of 20 Astronaut Applicants Includes Eight Women" (Press release). NASA. 77-46. Retrieved July 28, 2022.
- ^ "The Class of 1978 and the FLATs". NASA. November 30, 2016. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
- ^ Mullane 2007, p. 63.
- ^ a b Shayler & Burgess 2020, p. 177.
- ^ Shayler & Burgess 2020, p. 167.
- ^ Shayler & Burgess 2020, pp. 165–166.
- ^ "Frequently Asked Questions". NASA. January 16, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
- ^ Shayler & Burgess 2020, pp. 171–176.
- ^ Reim, Milton (August 31, 1979). "35 Astronaut Candidates Complete Training and Evaluation Period" (PDF) (Press release). NASA. 79-53. Retrieved October 3, 2020.
- ^ Shayler & Burgess 2020, pp. 190–191.
- ^ Shayler & Burgess 2020, p. 199.
- ^ Shayler & Burgess 2020, p. 298.
- ^ Shayler & Burgess 2020, p. 312.
- ^ Collins & Ward 2021, pp. 140–145.
- ^ Shayler & Burgess 2020, p. 325.
- ^ Garrett, Dave; Nesbitt, Steve (November 17, 1983). "STS Flight Assignments" (PDF) (Press release). NASA. 83-046. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
- ^ Nesbitt, Steve; Redmond, Charles (August 3, 1984). "NASA Announces Updated Flight Crew Assignments" (PDF) (Press release). NASA. 84-036. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
- ^ Evans 2012, pp. 355–356.
- ^ Waggoner, Miles; Deason, Billie (May 4, 1985). "ARABSAT Payload Specialist Activities" (PDF) (Press release). NASA. 85-019. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
- ^ a b "STS-51G". NASA. Retrieved August 29, 2022.
- ^ a b Evans 2012, pp. 361–362.
- ^ Hitt & Smith 2014, pp. 254–255.
- ^ Evans 2012, pp. 363–364.
- ^ Evans, Ben (February 2, 2012). "'A Job? But You're A Girl!': The Triumphant Career of Shannon Lucid". AmericaSpace. Retrieved December 31, 2022.
- ^ Shayler & Burgess 2020, p. 344.
- ^ White, Terry (October 28, 1985). "Mission Control Names Teams For Flight 61-A/Spacelab D-1" (PDF) (Press release). NASA. 85-042. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
- ^ Shayler & Burgess 2020, p. 345.
- ^ Ross, Janet (December 13, 1985). "Flight Control Of Shuttle Mission 61-C" (PDF) (Press release). NASA. 85-052. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
- ^ Shayler & Burgess 2020, p. 363.
- ^ Carr, Jeffrey (November 30, 1988). "Four New Shuttle Crews Named (STS-32, STS-33, STS-34, STS-35)" (PDF) (Press release). NASA. 88-049. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
- ^ a b c "STS-34". NASA. Retrieved August 30, 2022.
- ^ a b Evans, Ben (October 20, 2012). "The Romance of Adventure: STS-34 and the Voyage of Galileo". AmericaSpace. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
- ^ "Deployment of Galileo and the IUS". NASA. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
- ^ Evans, Ben (October 27, 2019). "'You Didn't Prepare Me': Remembering America's Galileo Mission to Jupiter, 30 Years On (Part 2)". AmericaSpace. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
- ^ "STS-34 Press Kit" (PDF). NASA. October 1989. Archived (PDF) from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
- ^ Cart, Jeffrey (May 24, 1990). "Shuttle Crews Named For 1991 Missions (STS-43, STS-44, STS-45)" (PDF) (Press release). NASA. 90-033. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
- ^ a b c "STS-43". NASA. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
- ^ a b "STS-43". NASA. Archived from the original on February 24, 2019.
- ^ Schwartz, Barbara (December 6, 1991). "Payload Crew Named For Spacelab Life Sciences-2 Mission" (PDF) (Press release). NASA. 91-088. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
- ^ Seddon 2015, pp. 358–360.
- ^ Shayler & Burgess 2020, pp. 414–415.
- ^ Schwartz, Barbara (August 27, 1992). "Crew Assignments Announced For STS-58 and STS-61" (PDF) (Press release). NASA. 92-047. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
- ^ Fluegel, Kari (October 29, 1992). "Payload Specialist Selected For Second Life Sciences Mission" (PDF) (Press release). NASA. 92-060. Retrieved August 31, 2022.
- ^ a b "STS-58". NASA. Retrieved January 18, 2022.
- ^ "STS-58". NASA. Archived from the original on February 13, 2022.
- ^ Morgan 2001, p. 5.
- ^ a b Mihelich, Peggy. "Legendary astronaut still finds herself star-struck". CNN. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
- ^ Morgan 2001, p. 11.
- ^ Hess, Mark; Herring, Kyle (March 30, 1995). "For Third" (Press release). NASA. 95-39. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
- ^ Morgan 2001, p. 23.
- ^ "STS-76". NASA. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
- ^ a b Morgan 2001, p. 45.
- ^ Bredeson 1998, p. 34.
- ^ Morgan 2001, p. 62.
- ^ Lucid 2020, p. 142.
- ^ Lucid, Shannon (June 17, 1998). "Shannon W. Lucid Oral History Interviews" (PDF) (Interview). NASA Johnson Space Center Oral History Project. Interviewed by Davison, Mark; Wright, Rebecca; Rollins, Paul. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
- ^ Morgan 2001, p. 61.
- ^ Bredeson 1998, p. 32.
- ^ "STS-79". NASA. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
- ^ Clary, Mike (September 27, 1996). "Lucid Lands on Both Feet After Record-Setting Flight". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
- ^ Lucid, Shannon. "Interview: Shannon Lucid" (Interview). Interviewed by Goldstein, Edward S. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
- ^ "STS-117 MCC Status Report #16". NASA. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
- ^ a b Buck, Joshua; Cloutier-Lemasters, Nicole (January 31, 2012). "Legendary Astronaut Shannon Lucid Retires From NASA" (Press release). NASA. 12-038. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
- ^ Morgan, Chris (January 5, 2023). "20 facts you might not know about 'Armageddon'". Yardbarker. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
- ^ "Breaking News – Shuttle-era astronauts Lucid and Ross retire from NASA". Spaceflight Now. January 31, 2012. Retrieved January 7, 2023.
- ^ Rodriguez, Sarah. "One Giant Leap for Womankind: Egalitarian Women Making History". CBE International. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
- ISBN 0578495414.
- ISBN 0578671093.
- ^ "Astronaut Hall of Fame adds Shannon Lucid, Jerry Ross in 2014". Bay News 9. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
- ^ "Historical Recipient List" (PDF). NASA. Retrieved April 24, 2021.
- ^ Sheppard, David (September 27, 1990). "Slayton to Join Space Hall of Fame". El Paso Times. El Paso, Texas. p. 9. Retrieved January 8, 2023 – via Newspapers.com.
- ^ "Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame". Oklahoma Commission on the Status of Women. Archived from the original on September 6, 2008.
- ^ "Shannon W. Lucid". National Women's Hall of Fame. Retrieved January 8, 2023.
- ^ "NASA inducts Shannon Lucid and Jerry Ross into the U.S. Astronaut – FOX 35 News Orlando". Archived from the original on May 5, 2014. Retrieved May 5, 2014.
- ^ "Lucid and Ross selected for U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame". Spaceflight Now. Retrieved February 8, 2014.
- ^ Svitil, Kathy (November 13, 2002). "The 50 Most Important Women in Science". Discover. Retrieved January 9, 2023.
References
- Atkinson, Joseph D.; Shafritz, Jay M. (1985). The Real Stuff: A History of NASA's Astronaut Recruitment Program. Praeger Special Studies. New York: Praeger. OCLC 12052375.
- Bredeson, Carmen (1998). Shannon Lucid: Space Ambassador. A Gateway Biography. Brookfield, Kentucky: Milbrook Press. OCLC 38120528.
- OCLC 1281565457.
- Evans, Ben (2012). Tragedy and Triumph in Orbit: The Eighties and Early Nineties. New York: Springer. OCLC 816202257.
- Foster, Amy E. (2011). Integrating Women into the Astronaut Corps: Politics and Logistics at NASA, 1972–2004. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press. OCLC 775730984.
- OCLC 861955707.
- Morgan, Clay (2001). Shuttle-Mir Мир-Шаттл: The United States and Russia Share History's Highest Stage (PDF). NASA History Series. Houston: NASA. OCLC 46992183. SP-2001-4225. Retrieved September 2, 2022.
- OCLC 671034758.
- OCLC 921147949.
- Shayler, David J.; OCLC 1145568343.
- Sokatch, John R. (2001). Indians, Homesteaders and Molecular Biologists: A History of Biochemistry and the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology of the University of Oklahoma Health Sciences Center (PDF). Oklahoma City: University of Oklahoma. OCLC 49885352. Retrieved August 28, 2022.
External links
- The Incredible Shannon Lucid This article incorporates text from this source, which is in the public domain.