American Embarks on Her Mission as Member of Mir

NASA astronaut Shannon Lucid became a full-fledged member of Russian space station Mir on Sunday, beginning her planned five-month stay with a flurry of hugs, flashing cameras and chocolate Easter bunnies.

Her switch from the space shuttle Atlantis to the Mir crew was announced by Mission Control 11 hours after the shuttle pulled into the station.

“So if you guys have to pull out of Dodge [before Thursday], she’ll wave at you as you depart,” Mission Control told the five remaining astronauts on Atlantis.

Lucid is the first U.S. woman to live on Mir, and her mission marks the beginning of a permanent U.S. presence in space for the next two years, possibly well into the 21st century.

“It’s been one of many people’s dreams, I think, to have an outpost in space where we can always go to and conduct research and learn more about living in space, and this is the beginning of that,” said Frank Culbertson, director of NASA’s shuttle-Mir program.

Five more Americans are supposed to live on Mir. By the time the last one leaves in 1998, the international space station should be built and housing U.S.-Russian crews.

The eight people on the 522,847-pound Atlantis-Mir complex celebrated Saturday night’s smooth docking--Atlantis commander Kevin Chilton was only one second and one inch off the mark--with gifts and, later, dinner on Mir.

Russian cosmonauts Yuri Onufrienko and Yuri Usachev laughed when Chilton handed each of them a chocolate Easter bunny.

“As you know, soon there will be Easter,” Chilton explained in halting Russian, “and traditionally in America for this holiday we eat chocolate Easter bunnies. Don’t ask why.”

The Atlantis astronauts began hauling more than 5,000 pounds of supplies to the Russian station, including water. This shuffling of equipment will occupy most of their time during the five days the spacecraft are linked.

As for Lucid, 53, a biochemist and mother of three grown children, she began settling in for what should be the longest U.S. stay in space.

Culbertson said it may take a while for Lucid to feel at home and “get into the swing of things” with her two Russian crew mates. But he’s confident she’ll adjust well to her new, rather isolated surroundings.