Fwd: Lucid and Ross selected for Astronaut Hall of Fame

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From: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Date: February 8, 2014 12:49:23 PM CST
To: "Moon, Larry J. (JSC-EA411)" <larry.j.moon@nasa.gov>
Subject: FW: Lucid and Ross selected for Astronaut Hall of Fame

Thanks to Gary for letting us know about the latest hall of fame inductees.   Agree with him that Shannon and Jerry are much deserved of the recognition.

 

Congratulations to them both.

 

 

 

 

 

Congratulations to both Shannon and Jerry both very well deserved. I enjoyed very much a chance to work with both of them.

Gary

 

Spaceflight Now        

                       

Lucid and Ross selected for U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame

 

Two distinguished former NASA astronauts — Shannon Lucid and Jerry Ross — will be inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame as the 2014 class, officials announced Friday.

 

Lucid, the only American woman to serve aboard the Russian space station Mir, and Ross is the first human to complete seven space shuttle missions.

 

Their selection as the 2014 inductees was announced today at the new Space Shuttle Atlantis attraction at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex by Dan Brandenstein, chairman of the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and himself a four-time shuttle astronaut and Hall of Fame member.

 

Lucid and Ross will be inducted into the Astronaut Hall of Fame at 3 p.m. May 3 during a ceremony at the Visitor Complex, joining the ranks of well-known space explorers such as Alan Shepard, John Glenn, John Young, Neil Armstrong and Sally Ride.

 

"Shannon Lucid and Jerry Ross are extraordinary astronauts who made history as very important and frequent crewmembers in shuttle missions," Brandenstein said. "We are looking forward to honoring their accomplishments and sharing their tremendous life stories at the May 3 induction."

 

Lucid and Ross were selected by NASA to become astronauts within two years of each other; Lucid in 1978 and Ross in 1980. Now retired, both achieved honorable milestones throughout their careers with NASA. Lucid joined the first U.S. astronaut class to include women and held the record until 2007 for the most flight hours in orbit by a female astronaut (5,354 hours, or 223 days). Ross was the first to break the world record for being the first human launched into space seven times.

 

Past inductees were part of the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Space Shuttle programs. Welcoming Lucid and Ross marks the thirteenth group of space shuttle astronauts named to the Astronaut Hall of Fame. The addition of these two accomplished astronauts brings the total number of members to 87. In 2013, space shuttle astronauts Curt Brown, Eileen Collins and Bonnie Dunbar were inducted.

 

Shannon Lucid, a Ph.D., is a veteran of five space flights. She boarded space shuttle Discovery on June 17, 1985, for her first mission, STS-51G. On this mission, the crew deployed and retrieved the Spartan satellite along with several other communication satellites.

 

On March 22, 1996, Lucid launched aboard STS-76 Atlantis toward the Russian Space Station Mir. She spent 188 days working as Board Engineer 2 on life and physical science experiments. Lucid is the only American woman to have served on the Mir. President Clinton presented Lucid with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor in December 1996 for her mission to Mir, making her the first woman to receive this award. Lucid's other missions include STS-34 Atlantis, STS-43 Atlantis and STS-58 Columbia.

 

After serving on Mir, Lucid became NASA's Chief Scientist at NASA headquarters in Washington D.C. She then went on to serve as a CAPCOM in Mission Control, helping her fellow astronauts in space. Lucid retired from NASA in January 2012.

 

Jerry Ross, a retired United States Air Force colonel, entered active duty with the Air Force in 1972 and became a payload officer/flight controller at the Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in 1979. Ross flew as a mission specialist for six of his record-holding seven flights to space and logged 1,393 hours in space, including 58 hours, 18 minutes during nine spacewalks.

 

Ross spent a considerable amount of time between 1998 and 2002 working on the International Space Station (ISS). Endeavour launched the first ISS assembly mission, STS-88, on Dec. 4, 1998. It was a 12-day mission during which Ross completed three spacewalks and aided in connecting umbilicals between the U.S. Unity module and the unmanned Russian Zarya module. Five of Ross's seven flights were flown on space shuttle Atlantis. In between his first launch into space on Nov. 26, 1986, aboard STS-61B Atlantis, and his last on April 8, 2002, with STS-110 Atlantis, he also flew on STS-27 Atlantis, STS-37 Atlantis, STS-55 Columbia and STS-74 Atlantis.

 

Throughout his career, Ross received 15 NASA medals and was awarded the American Astronautical Society's Victor A. Prather Award for his numerous spacewalking achievements. From 2003 until his retirement from NASA in January 2012, Ross served as chief of the Vehicle Integration Test Office at Johnson Space Center. "Spacewalker: My Journey in Space and Faith as NASA's Record-Setting Frequent Flyer" is Ross' recently published autobiography.

                                               

© 2014 Spaceflight Now Inc.

 

 

 

Astronaut Hall of Fame to Add Two Record-Setting Space Shuttle Fliers

by Robert Z. Pearlman, collectSPACE.com Editor   |   February 07, 2014 02:02pm ET

 

Astronaut Hall of Fame 2014 Inductees: Shannon Lucid and Jerry Ross

 

A spacewalker who flew a record seven times into orbit and the first American woman to complete a long-duration space station mission will be inducted into the U.S. Astronaut of Hall of Fame, officials announced on Friday (Feb. 7).

 

Former NASA astronauts Jerry Ross and Shannon Lucid were revealed as the Astronaut Hall of Fame's 2014 honorees during a ceremony held Friday at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida. Ross and Lucid will be formally enshrined into the Hall on May 3 during a public induction to include many of the institution's 85 astronaut members.

 

"[Lucid and Ross] are extraordinary astronauts who made history as important and frequent crewmembers on shuttle missions," Dan Brandenstein, a four-time shuttle flier and 2003 Astronaut Hall of Fame inductee, remarked. "We are looking forward to honoring their accomplishments and to sharing their tremendous life stories." [Shuttle Astronauts: 7 Space Travelers to Know]

 

Ross and Lucid were chosen through a selection process overseen by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation, which Brandenstein heads as chair. Nominees had to have made their first launch by 1996 as either a NASA-trained shuttle commander, pilot or mission specialist.

 

A committee of Astronaut Hall of Fame inductees, NASA officials, flight directors, historians and journalists voted to select this year's class of honorees.

 

Lucid and Ross joined NASA's astronaut corps in January 1978 and May 1980, respectively. Both launched into orbit for the first time in 1985 and retired from NASA in 2012.

 

Lucid was among the first six women that NASA selected to be astronauts. A veteran of five missions, including one stay on the Russian space station Mir, Lucid logged more than 5,354 hours 223 days in space. She set a record for the most flight hours in orbit by a female astronaut, which she held until 2007, and was the only American woman to have served aboard Mir.

 

Ross was the first person to launch from Earth into space seven times. Logging nearly 1,400 hours in orbit, including 58 hours and 18 minutes during nine spacewalks, Ross's seven-spaceflight total is a record he now shares with only one other astronaut (2012 Hall of Fame inductee Franklin Chang Diaz), and his number of spacewalks as well as the time spent on those spacewalks both rank as the second-highest among NASA astronauts and third-longest among spacewalkers worldwide.

 

Of Ross' seven space shuttle launches, five were onboard the orbiter Atlantis (the two others were on Columbia and Endeavour). Ross helped deploy communication satellites and the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, flew aboard a classified mission for the Department of Defense, installed a docking module on the space station Mir and helped to build the International Space Station, including serving on the very first assembly mission.

 

Like Ross, Lucid's shuttle flights deployed communication satellites — including a Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS). She also helped launch the Galileo robotic probe to Jupiter and conducted medical experiments. Lucid flew on orbiters Columbia, Discovery and Atlantis before lifting off on Atlantis again for her 188-day stay aboard Mir. Only the second American to live on the Soviet-era outpost, her mission helped paved the way for the International Space Station.

 

Besides flying in space, Lucid also worked in the Shuttle Avionics Integration Laboratory (SAIL) and Flight Software Laboratory at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, as well as served as capcom — capsule communicator — in Mission Control. She was also NASA's Chief Scientist at the space agency's headquarters in Washington, D.C.

 

From 2003 to 2011, Ross was the chief of NASA's Vehicle Integration Test Office at Johnson Space Center. In 2013, he released his autobiography and will publish a children's book later this year.

 

Lucid and Ross are the 13th group of shuttle astronauts to be named to the Astronaut Hall of Fame. In 2013, shuttle fliers Curtis Brown, Eileen Collins and Bonnie Dunbar were inducted.

 

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