Shannon Lucid :: essays research papers

Shannon LucidEver since children have dared to dream, they have of all clip dreamt ofgoing to the moon or to the stars. For the millions of children who dream this,only an infinitely depleted portion actually 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 send to aprison camp by the Japanese. Only a division later were they safe in American arms subsequently they were traded for Japanese POWs. After the war they went back toChina, but in 1949 they were forced to march on 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 unifyStates didnt even have a space computer programme. After graduating from Bethany High s chool sequence in 1960 she got her pilots 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 time America already had a space program.She could not believe that of the prime(prenominal) seven Mercury astronauts, none werefemales. This is just one more vitrine she complained of discrimination ofwomen in traditionally male held occupations. She experienced the same social occasionwhen 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 next day she took abiochemistry exam, which her instructor had judge her to make up later.Three years later she finally had a chance to fulfill her dream bygetting into the space program. The program 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 morose testing and theyproved that it doesnt take a Y chromosome to have "The remedy Stuff".     Her greatest accomplishment to date is she has spent the most time inspace of any American. She spent 188 days and 65,454,841 miles in space. Sheis sincerely yours a tribute to sheer will power.