Shannon Lucid
DOI: 10.1063/PT.5.031133
On this date in 1943, American astronaut Shannon Lucid was born in Shanghai, China. After a career in academia, she was selected as one of the first six women to be included in the US astronaut training program in 1978. In her career as an astronaut, she was on 5 space shuttle flights and spent nearly half a year on the Russian space station Mir in 1996. That mission gave her the record for longest duration spaceflight by a woman until it was surpassed by Sunita Williams in 2007. She later served as NASA’s chief scientist and as the lead overnight capsule communicator (CAPCOM) for almost half of the following shuttle missions.
Date in History: 14 January 1943
