Shannon Lucid :: essays research papers

Shannon LucidEver since children have dared to envisage, they have always dreamt ofgoing to the moon or to the stars. For the millions of children who dream this,only an infinitely small portion in reality achieve this goal. In 1943 in war-torn China, a girl was born who had this same dream. Her name was Shannon Lucid.She was born in 1943 to a Baptist preacher, Joseph Oscar Wells andMyrtle Wells, a nurse. At 6 months of age she and her parents were sent to aprison camp by the Japanese. Only a year later were they safe in American armsafter they were traded for Japanese POWs. After the war they went back toChina, but in 1949 they were forced to leave when the communists took over.They then settled in Bethany, Oklahoma.     She always had the dream that someday she would be a space explorer.People thought her crazy for this dream though, because the UnitedStates didnt even have a space program. After graduating from Bethany mellowedSchool in 1960 she got her pil ots license. In regard to her dream she said,"the Baptists wouldnt let women preach, so I had to become an astronaut to getcloser to God than my father." By this eon America already had a space program.She could not believe that of the first seven Mercury astronauts, none werefemales. This is just one more instance she complained of favoritism ofwomen in traditionally male held occupations. She experienced the same thingwhen she tried unsuccessfully to become a commercial pilot. So from 66-68 sheworked at Kerr-Mcgee Corp. as a chemist. This is also where she met herhusband Michael Lucid. After she was married she returned to school at theUniversity of Oklahoma, where she earned her B.S. in Chemistry. One interestingoccurrence after the birth of her daughter, the very coterminous day she took abiochemistry exam, which her instructor had expected her to make up later.Three years later she finally had a chance to fulfill her dream bygetting into the space program. The progra m was now allowing women. She"scrambled" to get her application in and was accepted as one of the first sixfemale astronauts. These women had to go through rigorous testing and theyproved that it doesnt take a Y chromosome to have "The Right Stuff".     Her greatest accomplishment to date is she has spent the close time inspace of any American. She spent 188 days and 65,454,841 miles in space. Sheis truly a tribute to sheer will power.