Shannon Lucid

From 5/25/2006 to 11/1/2006 is 160 days

From 11/1/2006 to 4/10/2007 is 160 days





http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/space/01/26/shannon.lucid.profile/index.html

CNN


Legendary astronaut still finds herself star-struck

POSTED: 12:10 a.m. EDT, April 10, 2007

By Peggy Mihelich

CNN

(CNN) -- During the last space shuttle mission to the international space station, television cameras panned around the Johnson Space Center's Mission Control and landed on the CAPCOM desk -- the relay station between astronauts on the ground and those circling in orbit.

There sat astronaut Shannon Lucid, diligently taking notes and talking Discovery astronauts through procedure after procedure. At 64, Lucid continues to work as an active member of the NASA astronaut corps and loves every minute of it.

Lucid's career at NASA is the stuff of legends -- she was in the first class of NASA's female astronauts, flew on five shuttle flights and spent six months on Russia's Mir space lab. She's known for her zest for life, steely determination and resourcefulness. (Photo gallery: Explore Lucid's career)

"The very thought of exploring space I just find really exciting. And I figure I'll work as long as I'm happy to wake up every day and think 'Wow, I'm so glad to be going to work,'" Lucid said.

Lucid's interest in space began as a young girl with a curiosity about rockets and science fiction.

"I'd read about Robert Goddard [the father of modern rocket propulsion] and his rockets out in New Mexico, and I had read a lot of science fiction. And I thought it would be so cool to go up and explore the universe."

Lucid was 14 years old when the space age began with the launch of Sputnik on October 4, 1957. When the U.S. announced it would soon have its own manned space program, it sent her spirits soaring.

She was dumbfounded to find out the first American astronauts were all male.

"I thought, 'Wow, how did this happen?' "

Female astronauts

America of the 1950s and '60s provided few opportunities for women in search of careers -- even fewer for women looking for jobs in science. In 1963, just weeks away from getting her Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry from the University of Oklahoma, Lucid recalled talking with her professor about how to get a job.

He stared back her, stunned. "He said to me, 'A job? You plan on working? But you're a girl.' "

"People just wouldn't even talk to you if you were a female. But when the law changed [the Civil Rights Act of 1964], and it said you can't discriminate, then things started to open up," she said.

Lucid found work in academia as a research biochemist.

"It just never occurred to her that there were things women didn't do," said astronaut Ellen Baker. Baker has worked with Lucid for 20 years, flying together on the shuttle Atlantis in 1989.

"She is probably the most positive and optimistic person I know, who basically thinks nothing is impossible and really has proven that in her life," Baker said.

Lucid joined NASA in 1978 as a member of the first astronaut class to accept females. The group of women also included Margaret Seddon, Kathryn Sullivan, Judith Resnik, Sally Ride, and Anna Fisher.

"We came here, we were assigned jobs, and we just worked and tried to do the best that we could," Lucid said, describing her beginnings with NASA.

What they did was prove to NASA and the world that female astronauts could perform the same as male astronauts.

"The difficult part has always been waiting to be assigned to a flight." Her hard work and persistence were rewarded; she completed 4 shuttle flights between 1985 and 1993.

Mir

In 1996, NASA was in the early years of its partnership with the Russian space agency. As a way to build on their relationship and learn about living long-term in space, NASA sent astronauts to live and work for months on Russia's orbiting space lab Mir.

The assignment wasn't appealing when compared to the shuttle flights of the day. Astronauts had to learn Russian, leave home and train in Star City, Russia, for a year. Once on Mir, they would spend months conducting science experiments with two non-English speaking cosmonauts.

"I was wondering what it would be like to spend a long period of time in space. I told everybody I wanted to do it, and they couldn't find anybody else who had volunteered. So they said: 'Well OK, go do it,' " Lucid said.

Her training was intense -- and entirely in Russian.

"It was as if you walked around all day with glasses on that were out of focus, and you saw the whole world and it was out of focus, and you were always trying to figure out what it was you were looking at. That's what it felt like," she said of training in a language she didn't speak.

On March 23, 1996, she arrived at Mir and met her roommates: Cosmonauts Yury Usachev and Yuri Onufriyenko.

"They were really wonderful to live and work with," she said.

"Yury Usachev, was the flight engineer. He was an engineer by training, and he had a philosophical bent. He liked to talk and philosophize. Yuri Onufriyenko was the commander, a military pilot. He was born in the Ukraine, and he was more quiet, but he liked to make sure everything was done and done right."

Lucid kept busy with science experiments and assisted the crew with multiple spacewalks. In her spare time she read and looked out the big window at the Earth, keeping in contact with her family and friends via a video link up and HAM radio. (Watch as Lucid details her life on Mir Video)

Her original stay was supposed to last four months, but a shuttle delay extended her mission by six weeks.

That extra time put her in the record book. She traveled 75.2 million miles in 188 days, four hours. She holds the U.S. single mission space flight endurance record on Mir, has the most flight hours in orbit by any woman in the world and the most flight hours in orbit by any non-Russian.

For her Mir achievement, President Bill Clinton awarded Lucid the Congressional Space Medal of Honor, the only women to receive this award. Russian President Boris Yeltsin awarded her the Order of Friendship Medal, the highest Russian award that can be given to a noncitizen.

"Shannon is a true pioneer in space exploration, and has been an inspiration to me and countless other women in the United States and around the world," said current NASA Deputy Administrator Shana Dale.

"We are proud to call a person of such outstanding achievement one of our own here at NASA."

For Lucid, the Mir experience was "just awesome." An opportunity she is very grateful to have been given. "I had a really good time thanks to Yuri and Yury."

NASA's test of endurance

Since the Mir mission, Lucid has served in an astronaut support role for shuttle flights.

She worked Mission Control during NASA's last shuttle mission in December and recently traveled with NASA Administrator Michael Griffin to China where they toured facilities where the Chinese are building spacecraft.

Both China and the U.S. have ambitious lunar missions for the next decade: NASA hopes to land people on the moon again by 2020, and China plans to establish an orbiting space lab by 2015.

Lucid fully understands the difficult task ahead for the space agency.

"Going to the moon was an awesome feat. Sometimes when something gets relegated to the history books it loses its wonder, and people forget just what an awesome thing it really was to do that and what an awesome thing it will be to have the ability to do again."

NASA has a good plan laid out and "will go step by step to get there," she said. "This is a long-term project. And we're in this for the long haul."

A project that will no doubt test everyone's endurance. And as long as she's needed she'll be there to help out.

"I just really enjoy working. ... I came from the generation where women didn't have many options. That changed after I got out of school. I still feel in awe that I even have a job. It's like a miracle every day."










JOURNAL ARCHIVE: From: Kerry Burgess

Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 3:12 PM

To: Kerry Burgess

Subject: Journal May 25, 2006


I'm feeling more comfortable, confident even, that this stuff I am remembering is true. There is still something I am missing though. I suspect that it is something I have to figure out, to remember, to recognize, on my own. It is something I will know when I see. For a while, sometime ago, I was thinking to myself something about how this wasn't over til "the bat lady sings," but I don't know what that means precisely, other than a variation of the well-known phrase. I feel the answer is somewhere in my memory, if I could just grasp it. I felt like I almost remembered something last night, something I wrote more about in my notes, but not sure if I will put it in here. I can't remember that thought now, but it was some kind of family choice, and that half-remembered choice was reflected in something later, but I can't remember.

Anyway, first in my notes last night was to remember a girlfriend I had when I was going to a Navy school in Great Lakes, outside Chicago. I am convinced she does not really exist and the memory I have of her represents something and/or someone else. Her name was Diane Broch, a name which, the first descriptor word that comes to mind is comfortably, reminds me of that movie Erin Brockovich.


[JOURNAL ARCHIVE 25 May 2006 excerpt ends]










JOURNAL ARCHIVE: From: Kerry Burgess

Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 3:12 PM

To: Kerry Burgess

Subject: Journal May 25, 2006


When I was writing about this in my notes last night, I was wondering if there is some similarity to the part in that movie Flight Of The Intruder, in that he was grounded for his rogue mission. Who knows, I sure don't. It seems too crazy to be true.

None of these people actually exist I realize now, but I remember something about returning from the P.G. and hearing my girlfriends sister saying something about me not being welcome in their house. One of their family friends standing there said though that I was always welcome in her house.


[JOURNAL ARCHIVE 25 May 2006 excerpt ends]










JOURNAL ARCHIVE: From: Kerry Burgess

Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 3:12 PM

To: Kerry Burgess

Subject: Journal May 25, 2006


Tracie and I first went out on a December 7th. I think it was 1991. I think it was a Christmas party at the bank we worked at. Her job was to stock cash in the ATMs for the western part of the region I covered. When there was a problem with the machines, she called me out to make repairs. She was an avid softball player before we started dating.

What is it that is blocking my memory of my real life???? I don't even know what is my real name. Theda is not my mother. Melissa is not my sister. My nieces aren't my family. It is mind-boggling. I thought I knew what was loneliness, but this is just unreal. This is loneliness beyond comprehension.

I was thinking last night, as I was writing my notes, about that part of the series finale of ST:TNG. The solution is probably in there too, somewhere. Picard was asking about the Stardate, what's the Stardate? At the end, he is playing poker with his staff. I remember playing poker in Missile Plot on the Wainwright. I rememeber something like people looking dazzled at some kind of card trick I knew, no one else could even come close to the same level as I. Picard said he should have done that a long time ago. Troi said he was always welcome.


[JOURNAL ARCHIVE 25 May 2006 excerpt ends]










JOURNAL ARCHIVE: From: Kerry Burgess

Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 3:12 PM

To: Kerry Burgess

Subject: Journal May 25, 2006


I caught an interesting episode of Futurama last night. The interesting part was where Fry was talking to the bureaucrat and she told him he should have made the request 20 years ago.


[JOURNAL ARCHIVE 25 May 2006 excerpt ends]










JOURNAL ARCHIVE: From: Kerry Burgess

Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 3:12 PM

To: Kerry Burgess

Subject: Journal May 25, 2006


Since I heard it again this morning, I have been thinking of that song "Free Falling" from Tom Petty.

I suspect I have been in therapy for something for a long time and this is a mechanism of treatment.


[JOURNAL ARCHIVE 25 May 2006 excerpt ends]










JOURNAL ARCHIVE: From: Kerry Burgess

Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 3:17 PM

To: Kerry Burgess

Subject: Re: Tom Petty - Free Fallin'


Kerry Burgess wrote:


http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/FREE-FALLIN'-lyrics-Tom-Petty/406AE53B2B96AE43482568A2001F0627

She's a good girl, loves her mama
Loves Jesus and America too
She's a good girl, is crazy 'bout Elvis
Loves horses and her boyfriend too

It's a long day living in Reseda
There's a freeway runnin' through the yard
And I'm a bad boy cos I don't even miss her
I'm a bad boy for breakin her heart

And I'm free, free fallin'
Yeah I'm free, free fallin'

All the vampires walkin' through the valley
Move west down Ventura Boulevard
And all the bad boys are standing in the shadows
And the good girls are home with broken hearts

And I'm free, free fallin'
Yeah I'm free, free fallin'

(backing vocals)
Free fallin', now I'm, free fallin', now I'm
Free fallin', now I'm, free fallin', now I'm

I wanna glide down over Mullholland
I wanna write her name in the sky
Gonna free fall out into nothin'
Gonna leave this world for a while

(with backing vocals)
And I'm free, free fallin'
Yeah I'm free, free fallin'

(with backing vocals)
Yeah I'm free, free fallin' OH
Free falling
Yeah I'm free, OH free fallin'


[JOURNAL ARCHIVE 25 May 2006 excerpt ends]










JOURNAL ARCHIVE: From: Kerry Burgess

Sent: Thursday, May 25, 2006 10:02 PM

To: Kerry Burgess

Subject: Re: Journal May 25, 2006, Supplemental


And birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
if you could see it then you'd understand?


[JOURNAL ARCHIVE 25 May 2006 excerpt ends]










http://www.azlyrics.com/c/coldplay.html

AZ

COLDPLAY

album: "X&Y" (2005)


http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/coldplay/speedofsound.html

AZ

COLDPLAY

"Speed Of Sound"

How long before I get in?
Before it starts, before I begin?
How long before you decide?
Before I know what it feels like?
Where To, where do I go?
If you never try, then you'll never know.
How long do I have to climb,
Up on the side of this mountain of mine?

Look up, I look up at night,
Planets are moving at the speed of light.
Climb up, up in the trees,
every chance that you get,
is a chance you seize.
How long am I gonna stand,
with my head stuck under the sand?
I'll start before I can stop,
before I see things the right way up.

All that noise, and all that sound,
All those places I got found.
And birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
if you could see it then you'd understand?

Ideas that you'll never find,
All the inventors could never design.
The buildings that you put up,
Japan and China all lit up.
The sign that I couldn't read,
or a light that I couldn't see,
some things you have to believe,
but others are puzzles, puzzling me.

All that noise, and all that sound,
All those places I got found.
And birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
if you could see it then you'd understand,
ah when you see it then you'll understand?

All those signs, I knew what they meant.
Some things you can invent.
Some get made, and some get sent,
Ooh?
Birds go flying at the speed of sound,
to show you how it all began.
Birds came flying from the underground,
if you could see it then you'd understand,
ah, when you see it then you'll understand?










JOURNAL ARCHIVE: November 1, 2006

JOURNAL ARCHIVE: 11/1/2006 3:14 PM

May 4, 2005, was the day I went to the Kent Police department for help. I named George W. Bush specifically as one of the people harassing me. The policeman didn’t ask me any questions. He dumped me off at the St. Francis hospital in Federal Way where the first thing they did was secretly drug my food. I found it very hard to restrain the urge to laugh shortly after I had eaten. I wanted to leave the hospital and go back to my apartment the next day, the 5th, but they talked me out of it and I stayed there until the next day, the 6th. I didn’t know which bus would take me back to the Kent Police Department and I ended up having to walk a long ways. With a single red folder in hand, I walked all the way from the intersection of I-5 and Kent-Des Moines Road, taking a left on West Meeker Street, to the Kent Police Department where my Jeep was parked. I saw some chatter online after I got back to my apartment about how interesting it was that I wanted to leave on the 5th, which the date could have been written as 5-5-5. A few days after I got back to my apartment, I ran out of food and went for those 9 days without anything to eat. At the point of a one-way trip to a tall bridge, as a stroke of luck would have it, I discovered that the three hundred dollars in my checking account was then unfrozen and I ate that night. Maybe this happened before the starving period or after, I’m not certain. Actually it was at the end. After nine days, I was going to kill myself rather than stay there for another 30 days or so and starve to death. I had enough money to eat again for a while but I didn’t have enough money to pay the rent, so on May 31st, I moved out. I sleep in my Jeep for the next 14 days before I went into the Redmond Police Department, exhausted, and asked them for help because I had lived in that town before Kent and I had worked for Microsoft, which was based in that town. They didn’t ask me any questions and just dumped me off at the hospital. They took me to Overlake in Bellevue first. The nurse seemed too eager to introduce herself to me, my instincts telling me there was something wrong with her introduction, but I couldn’t understand why. It reminds me of that time, after moving to Kent from Spokane and I was in the Wal Mart somewhere around Federal Way or Auburn. A woman on two different occasions said out loud, “Oh my God!” as she walked into an aisle I was in and saw me. The other woman told her to stop doing that. So they shuffled me around from that hospital and I stayed for about 4 days at UW Medical Center. After that, I went to the VA and I was there for about ten days, all drugged up. Meanwhile, my digestive system was rebelling and it would be weeks later, over a month later and probably closer to two months, at the point again of dying, that the problem was resolved.


[JOURNAL ARCHIVE 01 November 2006 excerpt ends]



- posted by H.V.O.M - Kerry Wayne Burgess 10:31 PM Pacific Time Spokane Valley Washington USA Sunday 16 October 2016