Online NewsHour: Shannon Lucid Returns-- September 26, 1996

THERE'S NO PLACE LIKE HOME

SEPTEMBER 26, 1996

TRANSCRIPT

NASA astronaut Shannon Lucid returned to earth after a record breaking 188 days in space. She had been conducting scientific research aboard Russia's Mir Space Station. A backgrounder is followed by a discussion with experts on the effect of long space flights on the human body.

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Shannon Lucid Biography

SHANNON LUCID: We look like a family now. We look like we belong together and that you're happy that I'm home.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Shannon Lucid dealt with her family and with a new challenge, the Earth's gravity today, with good humor, just as he had dealt with weightless in space.
SHANNON LUCID: Well, it's sort of like, you know, any time that you return back, except I've been gone for a long time, so, you know, it'll take just a little bit to get fully adapted back to living in one G again.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: The 53 year old biochemist spent six months in the Russian space station "Mir," the longest time in orbit of any American. And now she faces more months of rehabilitation to readjust to life on Earth. To minimize the effects of weightlessness on her bones and muscles, Lucid exercised two hours a day while on "Mir," an experience she said she was glad to give up.
SHANNON LUCID: Just about 10 minutes ago I ran my very last time on the treadmill, and I told all the guys that I was never, ever running again in my entire life.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Her long stay in space is one of a series of experiments aimed at gaining the knowledge necessary to begin building a large international space station late next year. She was scheduled to live aboard "Mir" with two Russian cosmonauts for about four months, but mechanical problems with the space shuttle and weather delays extended her stay forty-eight days. (music) Houston Mission Control made a joke of the situation and played an old 60's favorite, "Rescue Me" to the "Atlantis" astronauts sent to bring Lucid back.
SPOKESMAN: Atlantis-Houston, we have a vision of loveliness coming down in the TV view here.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: She greeted them enthusiastically and then impressed her colleagues with her ability to maneuver around her temporary home.
CARL WALZ, Atlantis Crew Member: She just seemed very, very smooth, as she glided through the passages in "Mir," and, you know, it was something that being in space, you, you learn how to, you know, to move your body and also she knew which way, you know, to turn as she was going through this passageway and that.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: During the five days the seven Americans and two Russians rendezvoused in space, the crews moved equipment, food, and water from "Atlantis" to "Mir" and transferred hardware and experimental samples to the shuttle for return to Earth.
TOM AKERS, Atlantis Crew Member: One of the things that really made it go smooth this time was having Shannon over on the "Mir" and having everything packed and ready to go, and the cosmonauts, as usual, you know, were very cooperative and helped out bringing their stuff over and taking stuff from help us. I think the real key was Shannon's familiarity, you know, with "Mir." She could take things and bring things back.
ELIZABETH FARNSWORTH: Lucid trained long and hard for her stay in space but challenge and sustained work are nothing new for her. She flew four shuttle missions before this one and is now the most experienced of either sex in the astronaut corps. When asked aboard "Mir" if she considered herself a pioneer, she had this to say.
SHANNON LUCID: I would just look out the window now and think, wow, who would have ever dreamed, you know, two years ago that I would be here? Who would have dreamed 10 years ago that, uh, I would have been here? I mean, and I just thought about how strange life is and how many, um, odd twists and turns there, there is in life.

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