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During a July 19, 1996, Mir crew news conference, Shannon Lucid spoke about her experience aboard Mir so far and commented on the prospect of spending an additional six weeks aboard the space station.
Important lessons learned
I think the most important thing you can learn from an experience like this is that the crew has to be compatible and get along and work together. I think that is the most important lesson I have learned.
The other thing that is of vital importance is that you have strong family support. My family has been supporting me all the way and is still supporting me and that has been very vital to my well-being and having a good time here on Mir. My kids wrote a book for me. They have a page for every day of the mission; that's a really neat idea, and I think that will work out very well.
I know my family has put together a scrapbook on the computer that has lots of pictures. . . They have spent a lot of time on that. On a day-to-day basis they have been sending me email letters daily, and that makes all the difference to me.
Setting an endurance record
I just hope that it's not a record that holds for very long, because I hope in a few years that quite a few Americans have the opportunity to spend a long time in space and that NASA, that America, will be able to gain a lot of experience with long duration space flight. So I hope the record doesn't stand for very long.
Staying longer than planned
I'm going to stay up here a little longer and I'll be home a little bit later. And when I get home they'll be just as excited to see me and I'll be just as excited to see them as I would have been the first part of August. I think it was a good decision and I support NASA all the way with the decision that was made.
Related
Links:
Lucid
Increment
Profile:
Shannon Lucid
Shannon
Lucid Oral History (PDF)
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Curator:
Kim Dismukes
Responsible NASA Official: John Ira Petty