Lucid's Historic Flight
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NASA
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Shannon Lucid holds the record for the longest stay in space by any U.S. astronaut and by any woman.
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On September 26, 1996, a smiling Shannon Lucid stepped out of the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis. Lucid was happy, not just because she had completed a successful mission, but also because she had just set the record for the longest stay in space by any U.S. astronaut--and the longest stay in space by any woman in the world. Lucid spent a total of 188 days, 4 hours, and 14 seconds in space during one mission! However, the path that led to Lucid’s historic flight was a long and difficult one for female astronauts.
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) officials first began to develop a manned space program in the late 1950s. In order to be chosen, NASA said that a candidate must have a degree in engineering, be a graduate of a test pilot school, and have completed 1500 hours of flying time. Women could not apply because at that time, they were not allowed to become test pilots.
Pilots that had been in the military were considered to be especially desirable candidates for space flight. In fact, only two of the 32 astronauts in the Apollo program (whose mission was to land a human on the Moon) did not have a military background. It was assumed that an enormous amount of physical strength and mental toughness would be needed to fly in space, and on that basis NASA did not think that women could be astronauts.
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NASA
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Some of the Apollo astronauts. Only three of the twenty-four did not have a military background.
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Society has changed in many ways since the late 1950s. At that time, women were expected to stay at home raising a family or work in what used to be considered "women’s jobs" such as nursing or teaching. One space official even said that allowing women to fly in space would be the same as "employing women as riveters (metal workers), truck drivers, steel workers or coal miners." (In the 1940s, women had worked in many jobs formerly held by soliders fighting in World War II, but that had not changed these attitudes throughout society.)
The group of astronauts chosen to fly for the first manned space program, Mercury, were male. All seven had military backgrounds. The astronauts had to go through lots of physical and mental tests in order to be chosen. In 1961, NASA launched the first manned spacecraft, which carried astronaut Alan Shepard into space. Two years previously, Dr. Randolph Lovelace, a research scientist, had heard that the Soviet Union was training a female cosmonaut. At that time, the Soviet Union and the United States were in a race to explore space. Lovelace did not want the Soviet Union to be the first with a woman astronaut, and so in 1961 he recruited (looked for and hired) 25 women to take the same physical and mental tests as the Mercury astronauts.
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NASA
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Jerrie Cobb was one of the Mercury 13.
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These tests--which included tasks such as drinking a pint of radioactive water, riding an exercise bike, and spending more than ten hours in a tank of water without being able to see, hear, touch, taste, or smell--were very difficult, but 13 women passed. These female astronauts, later known as the Mercury 13, had the same results as the male astronauts, and even had better results in the mental tests. Yet they were not admitted to the space program. The tests were kept secret, and a space official said, "NASA does not at this time have a requirement for such a program." Even Vice President Lyndon Johnson did not want women to fly in space. When the Mercury 13 asked him to pressure NASA to allow them to fly, he said "Let’s stop this now!"
Two years later, on June 16, 1963, Valentina Tereshkova, a Soviet cosmonaut, became the first woman in space. After the frenzied pace of the space race, the focus of human space flight missions began to change. NASA officials were not as concerned with the breaking of records, and instead began to focus more on scientific research. Scientists wanted to know more about stars and the Earth, about the effects of space travel in humans, and about how plants and crystals grow in space. NASA began to recruit different types of people, including women, in order to carry out all of these experiments.
In 1977, NASA made a special effort to encourage women to become astronauts by saying in an advertisement that "qualified women and minorities are urged to apply to become astronaut candidates." Six years later, Shannon Lucid and Sally K. Ride were chosen by NASA to become astronauts. Since then, every graduating class of astronauts has contained several women.
In June 1983, Sally K. Ride became the first U.S. woman astronaut to travel to space--twenty years after Tereshkova’s first flight. Ride, a mission specialist, lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard the space shuttle Challenger on June 18 with four other astronauts. During the mission, Ride helped to launch two satellites. She also played a key role in using the shuttle’s mechanical arm to release and then recapture a third test satellite. Ride flew a second mission in October 1984 and took part in the Challenger disaster investigation in 1986. She resigned from (left) NASA in 1987.
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NASA
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Eileen Collins was the first female shuttle commander for NASA.
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After earning her pilot’s license and graduating from university, Eileen M. Collins became one the first women to go straight from college into the U.S. Air Force. Twelve years after Ride’s first flight, in February 1995, she became the first pilot of a U.S. space shuttle. Collins again achieved a historic first in 1999 when she became the first female commander of a U.S. space shuttle--the Columbia.
In June 1985, Shannon Lucid became the sixth U.S. woman astronaut in space when she flew aboard Discovery. She was born in Shanghai, China, in January 1943, and earned her pilot’s license after finishing high school. She then studied biochemistry at college. Lucid was a mission specialist while aboard Discovery, and helped to launch satellites. She also conducted some biomedical experiments. Lucid flew on a further three missions in 1989, 1991, and 1993. She helped to conduct experiments on each mission, including studying the effects of space travel on plants.
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NASA
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In June 1985, Shannon Lucid became the sixth U.S. woman astronaut in space.
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The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991. After this, the friendship between the United States and Russia (which had been part of the Soviet Union), became much stronger. NASA and the Russian space agency wanted their astronauts and cosmonauts to work together. In 1995, Lucid traveled to Star City, Russia, in order to train for a mission aboard the Russian space station Mir. Mir had been launched by Russia in 1986, and nine years later, in 1995, the U.S. space shuttle Atlantis became the first American spacecraft to dock with the Russian station.
On March 22, 1996, after liftoff at Cape Canaveral, Florida, Lucid traveled aboard Atlantis to Mir. She was not the first U.S. astronaut to live aboard the station. Astronaut Norman E. Thagard had completed a 112-day mission in June 1995. While on board, Lucid was a Board Engineer 2 and conducted lots of scientific experiments, including examining how protein crystals grow in space and the effects of space travel on people. Lucid lived and worked with Russian cosmonauts Yuri Onufrienko and Yuri Usacheu for much of the mission. While at the space station, as well as conducting experiments, Lucid also spoke at press conferences, and talked with her family. She even asked for boxes of M&Ms candy to be sent up!
Lucid was scheduled to leave the station in August, but the flight was delayed because of problems with a booster rocket. The flight was canceled again when NASA officials were forced to move the space shuttle into shelter because of Hurricane Fran. On September 7, 1996, Lucid broke the record for the longest stay in space by a woman, beating Russian cosmonaut Yelena Kondakova whose record was 169 days. In July, she had broken the U.S. record. The world’s record for the longest stay in space is still held by Valery Polyakov, who lived aboard Mir for 438 days--more than a year!
On September 16, Atlantis took off from Cape Canaveral, Florida and traveled to Mir. Lucid and the Russian cosmonauts aboard, Valery Korzun and Aleksandr Kaleri, welcomed the crew. Atlantis delivered food, water, and equipment to the space station and took away completed experiments and waste. Astronaut John Blaha and Lucid switched places, with Blaha becoming the new U.S. astronaut aboard Mir.
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STS-79, Space Station Mir, NASA
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Shannon Lucid and John Blaha, the U.S. astronaut that replaced her on Mir.
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The space shuttle landed on September 26, and Lucid stepped out of the spacecraft. Doctors thought that she would have to be carried from the spacecraft because she had spent so long in space. Spending a long time in space usually affects an astronaut--sometimes they lose the strength in their muscles and lose calcium from their bones. However, Lucid surprised everyone when she walked to the waiting transporter. She had flown 45.5 million miles (73.2 million kilometers) at a distance of 240 miles (390 kilometers) above Earth during her trip. Lucid was awarded a Congressional Space Medal of Honor by the U.S. president and the Order of Friendship medal--one of the highest Russian civilian awards--for her historic flight.
The Mercury 13, Ride, Collins, and Lucid have contributed lots to the U.S. space program. What record will the next woman astronaut break? We will have to wait and see!
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Writing Prompt
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Using the following website and other reference resources, read about another female astronaut. How many flights has this astronaut flown? What type of work does she conduct aboard the spacecraft? Write a couple of paragraphs about what you discover.
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Other Web Sites
NASA: Shannon Lucid -
Windows to the Universe: Shannon Lucid -
Mercury 13 -
BBC: The Unlucky Mercury 13 -
NASA: Women of NASA -