Here are 20 Female Astronauts You Should Definitely Know

6. Shannon Lucid

Shannon Lucid was one of the first women to be accepted into NASA’s astronaut corps. She was selected for the astronaut program in 1978, along with Sally Ride. At the time, she was the only mother to be part of the program. Lucid, who holds a doctorate in biochemistry from the University of Oklahoma, went on her first spaceflight in 1985.

She served on multiple space flights, but is perhaps most known for her fifth mission, which took place in 1996. During this time, Lucid spent 188 days in space, then the record for longest space flight by a woman. She spent the majority of her time on Mir, the Russian space station that preceded the International Space Station.

While there, Lucid performed a series of life science experiments, some of which were intended to understand the effects of long-term weightlessness on the human body. Lucid’s record was broken by Sunita Williams in 2007. Lucid’s mission was unexpectedly extended by six weeks due to two separate delays.

After her time in space, Lucid served as Chief Scientist of NASA from 2002 to 2003. She was also the lead CAPCOM (capsule communicator) for the planning shift on many different shuttle missions, including STS-135 (the final shuttle mission in 2011). She retired shortly thereafter in 2012.