Astronaut Shannon W. Lucid communicates with the ground support team inside the Core Module of the Russian Mir Space Station. While aboard Mir, Lucid performed several experiments developed by researchers at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. These experiments helped investigators learn how do perform experiments on the International Space Station. Launched aboard the STS-76, the third Shuttle/Mir docking mission, in March 1996, to join the Mir crew in the orbiting laboratory, Astronaut Lucid returned to Earth aboard STS-79 in September 1996. At the time, Lucid made the U.S. longest record of 188 days in space. Prior to this endeavor, Lucid served as a mission specialist on STS-51G in June 1985, STS-34 in October 1989, STS-43 in August 1991, and STS-58 in October 1993. She had logged 5,354 hours (223 days) in space and held both an international record for the most flight hours in orbit by any non-Russian, and the record for the most flight hours in orbit by any woman in the world.
Image Credit: NASA