On returning to Earth after spending more than five months in the Space Station Mir, Shannon Lucid was awarded the Congressional Space Medal of Honour by U.S President Bill Clinton. Here’s what he had to say about the award to this remarkable woman…

"for her contributions to international co-operation in space…Shannon Lucid is an explorer in the best tradition of those who dare to challenge the unknown".

Who is Shannon Lucid?

Shannon was born January 14, 1943, in Shanghai, China and now lives in Bethany, Oklahoma, with her husband, Michael F. Lucid, and her three children: Kawai Dawn (27), Shandara Michelle (26), and Michael Kermit (20).

With brown hair and blue eyes, this five-foot-nine woman received a bachelor of science degree in chemistry from the University of Oklahoma in 1963, and her Masters and Ph.D. degrees in biochemistry from the University of Oklahoma by 1973.

Before starting her career as an astronaut, Dr Lucid was a senior laboratory technician at the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation and a chemist at Kerr-McGee University. As a research associate she did studies for the Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation from 1974 until her selection to the astronaut candidate training programme. Selected by NASA in January 1978, Dr Lucid became an astronaut in August 1979, flying her first mission on the 18th shuttle expedition.

Early technical assignments she had before her first flight included work at the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL). She has also worked at the Kennedy Space Centre’s Astronaut Office, participating in payload testing, shuttle testing, and launch countdowns, including stretches of being the Chief of Mission Support and the Chief of Astronaut Appearances.