[quote]The addition of Lucid and Ross brings the number of space explorers enshrined in the Hall of Fame to 87.”[/quote]
Cape Canaveral, FL, USA (Kennedy Space Center) – Space shuttle astronauts Shannon Lucid, the only American woman to serve aboard the Russian Space Station Mir, and Jerry Ross, the first human to complete seven space shuttle missions, will be inducted into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame at 3 p.m. Saturday, May 3 during a ceremony held in the Space Shuttle Atlantis attraction at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.
The location for the induction ceremony, is fitting as both Lucid and Ross flew several times on Atlantis.
Atlantis carried Lucid to Mir for her historic 188 days on the space station in 1996. President Bill Clinton presented Lucid with the Congressional Space Medal of Honor for her service aboard Mir, making her the first woman to receive the award. Lucid again flew on Atlantis for missions STS-34 and STS-43.
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.
Lucid and Ross will join the ranks of legendary space pioneers like Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Jim Lovell, Sally Ride and John Young – all distinguished members of the Hall of Fame. Earlier inductees represent the Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz programs.
The 2014 inductees were selected by a committee of Hall of Fame astronauts, former NASA officials, flight directors, historians and journalists. The process is administered by the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation. To be eligible, an astronaut must have made his or her first flight at least 17 years before the induction. Candidates must be a U.S. citizen and a NASA-trained commander, pilot or mission specialist who has orbited the earth at least once.