Legendary Astronaut Shannon Lucid Retires From NASA

Jan. 31, 2012

Joshua Buck
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
jbuck@nasa.gov

Nicole Cloutier-Lemasters
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
nicole.cloutier-1@nasa.gov

RELEASE: 12-038

LEGENDARY ASTRONAUT SHANNON LUCID RETIRES FROM NASA

HOUSTON -- Shannon Lucid, a member of NASA's first astronaut class to
include women, has retired after more than three decades of service
to the agency.

A veteran of five spaceflights, Lucid logged more than 223 days in
space, and from August 1991 to June 2007, held the record for the
most days in orbit by any woman in the world. Lucid is the only
American woman to serve aboard the Russian Mir space station. She
lived and worked there for more than 188 days, the longest stay of
any American on that vehicle. Her time on Mir also set the single
flight endurance record by a woman until Suni Williams broke it in
2006.

"Shannon is an extraordinary woman and scientist. She paved the way
for so many of us," said Peggy Whitson, chief of NASA's Astronaut
Office at the Johnson Space Center in Houston. "She was a model
astronaut for long-duration missions, and whether she was flying
hundreds of miles up in space or serving as Capcom [capsule
communicator] during the overnight hours for our space shuttle and
space station crews, she always brought a smile to our faces. Like so
many others, I always will look up to her."

Lucid, who holds a doctorate in biochemistry, was selected by NASA in
1978. She joined five other women as the agency's first female
astronauts. Her first three shuttle missions deployed satellites.
STS-51G in 1985 deployed and retrieved the SPARTAN satellite; STS-34
in 1989 deployed the Galileo spacecraft to explore Jupiter; and
STS-43 in 1991 deployed the fifth Tracking and Data Relay Satellite
(TDRS-E). Her fourth shuttle mission, STS-58 in 1993, focused on
medical experiments and engineering tests.

Lucid traveled aboard Atlantis on STS-76 in March 1996 to the Russian
Mir space station. She performed numerous life science and physical
science experiments during the course of her stay. She returned from
the station aboard Atlantis on STS-79 in September 1996.
In 2002, Lucid served as NASA's chief scientist at the agency's
headquarters in Washington. She returned to Johnson in the fall of
2003 and resumed technical assignments in the Astronaut Office. She
served as a Capcom in the Mission Control Center for numerous space
shuttle and space station crews, representing the flight crew office
and providing a friendly voice for dozens of friends and colleagues
in space.

For Lucid's complete biography, visit:

http://www.jsc.nasa.gov/Bios/htmlbios/lucid.html

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