Shannon Lucid's Record-Breaking Six-Month Stay on Russia's Mir Space Station

Astronaut Shannon W. Lucid spent six months living and working aboard the Russian space station Mir alongside two cosmonauts. Selected by NASA in 1978 as one of its first six female astronauts, Lucid became a pioneering figure in American spaceflight. During her mission, she conducted life science research and tended to wheat crops growing in the station's Svet greenhouse. Just three days before her return to Earth, she was still actively monitoring the plant experiments. Her extended stay set a record and highlighted the collaborative nature of U.S.-Russian space operations during that era.