珊农·露茜德1943—

生平

1943年，珊农·露茜德出生在上海，父母都是教会人员。后来随父母回到美国俄克拉何马州。高中毕业后进入俄克拉何马大学学习。1973年获生化学博士学位。

丈夫露茜德出身于印第安纳波利斯，两人育有2女1男。

在NASA的经历

1978年珊农·露茜德被选中成为NASA的宇航员。在同期6人的女宇航员中她是唯一的母亲。1985年6月珊农乘坐发现号航天飞机首次进入太空（STS-51-G）。随后在1989年（STS-34），1991年（STS-43），1993年（STS-58）又参加过数次航天飞行任务。

1996年3月22日到9月26日在和平号空间站停留了179天，这次任务她一共连续在太空滞留了188天（包括乘坐航天飞机的9天，来STS-76阿特兰蒂斯号航天飞机，回STS-79），成为在太空滞留时间最长的女性。这项纪录一直保持到2007年6月16日，被另一位NASA女宇航员苏尼塔·威廉斯打破（持续在国际空间站连续滞留195天）。

2002年，2003年在NASA做科学研究。2005年以后担任通信官参与STS-114、STS-116、STS-118、STS-120、STS-122、STS-124、STS-126、STS-125、STS-127、STS-128的飞行任务。

2008年1月，休斯敦林顿·约翰逊太空中心宇航员管理室供职。

1996年12月，珊农·露茜德被授予国会太空荣誉勋章。是第十位被授予该项荣誉的宇航员，也是首位接受该项荣誉的女性。

Shannon Matilda Wells Lucid (née Wells; born January 14, 1943) is an American biochemist and retired NASA astronaut. She has flown in space five times, including a prolonged mission aboard the Russian space station Mir in 1996, and is the only American woman to have stayed on Mir. From 1996 to 2007, Lucid held the record for the longest duration spent in space by an American and by a woman. She was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in December 1996, making her the tenth person and the first woman to be accorded the honor.

Lucid is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma, where she earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1963, a master's degree in biochemistry in 1970, and a PhD in biochemistry in 1973. She was a laboratory technician at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation from 1964 to 1966, a research chemist at Kerr-McGee from 1966 to 1968, and a research associate at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation from 1973 to 1978.

In 1978, Lucid was recruited by NASA for astronaut training with NASA Astronaut Group 8, the first class of astronauts to include women. She flew in space five times: on STS-51-G, STS-34, STS-43, STS-58, and her mission to Mir, for which Lucid traveled to the space station on Space Shuttle Atlantis with STS-76 and returned six months later with STS-79. She was the NASA Chief Scientist from 2002 to 2003 and a capsule communicator (CAPCOM) at Mission Control for numerous Space Shuttle missions, including STS-135, the final mission of the Space Shuttle program. Lucid announced her retirement from NASA in 2012.

Early life

Shannon Matilda Wells was born in Shanghai, Republic of China, on January 14, 1943, the daughter of Joseph Oscar Wells, a Baptist missionary, and his wife Myrtle, a missionary nurse. Due to America's ongoing war with Japan, when she was six weeks old, the family was detained by the Japanese, who had occupied Shanghai at the time. The three of them were imprisoned in an internment camp but were released during a prisoner exchange later that year. They returned to the United States on the Swedish ocean liner MS Gripsholm and stayed in the US until the end of the war.

After the war ended, the family returned to China but decided to leave again after the Chinese Communist Revolution in 1949. They moved to Lubbock, Texas, and then settled in Bethany, Oklahoma, the family's original hometown, where Wells graduated from Bethany High School in 1960.

NASA career

Selection and training

On July 8, 1976, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) issued a call for applications for at least 15 pilot candidates and 15 mission specialist candidates. For the first time, new selections would be considered astronaut candidates rather than fully-fledged astronauts until they finished training and evaluation, which was expected to take two years. The enactment of the Equal Employment Opportunity Act of 1972 reinforced the promise of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to address the persistent and entrenched employment discrimination against women, African Americans and minority groups in American society. While they had never been explicitly precluded from becoming NASA astronauts, none had ever been selected either. This time, minorities and women were encouraged to apply. Lucid's was one of the first of 8,079 applications received.

Later life

Lucid retired from NASA to take care of her husband Mike, who had dementia. He died on December 25, 2014. She later wrote about this experience in her book No Sugar Added: One Family's Saga of Dementia and Caretaking (2019). She wrote about her experiences on Mir in Tumbleweed: Six Months Living on Mir (2020).

Awards and honors

Lucid was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in December 1996 (for her mission to Mir), making her the tenth person and first woman to be given this honor. She was also awarded the NASA Space Flight Medal in 1985, 1989 (twice), 1991, 1993 and 1996; the NASA Exceptional Service Medal in 1988, 1990, 1992 and 2003 (twice); and the NASA Distinguished Service Medal in 1994 and 1997. Shanon was also awarded in Russia with Order of Friendship in 1996 and with Medal "For Merit in Space Exploration" in 2011. She was inducted into the International Space Hall of Fame in 1990, the Oklahoma Women's Hall of Fame in 1993, the National Women's Hall of Fame in 1998, and the United States Astronaut Hall of Fame in 2014. In 2002 Discover magazine recognized her as one of the fifty most important women in science.