American Astronaut Visits Poland

October 5, 2007

Shannon Lucid with students (Photo Gallery)

American astronaut Dr. Shannon Lucid visited Poland to participate in an international conference devoted to fifty years of space exploration organized by the Polish Academy of Science and Warsaw University of Technology on October 2-3, 2007.  Dr. Lucid, America’s most experienced astronaut, was in space for 223 days on five missions between 1985 and 1996.  Dr. Lucid currently holds the United States single mission space flight endurance record on the Russian Space Station Mir. 
Dr. Lucid spoke to students in Wroclaw, Chorzow and Krakow on the history and future of the American space program.  In Wrocław, Dr. Lucid delivered the inaugural address at the Faculty of Physics and Astronomy of the Wrocław University on October 4 and met with the general public at the American Corner in Wrocław.
About 300 students from across Silesia enjoyed Dr. Lucid’s presentation at the Chorzów Planeterium on October 5.  Students asked questions about daily life in space and the potential for human travel to Mars.
Shannon Lucid and John Hall, Director of Export Control and Interagency Liaison of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) met with both high school and university students at the Jagiellonian University Faculty of Physics, Astronomy and Applied Computer Science on October 5 to discuss NASA’s past achievements and its vision for space exploration.  Their visit ended with a reception at Consul General Anne Hall’s residence, where the region’s best high school students in math and science had a chance to meet with Shannon Lucid and John Hall to talk informally about the US space program.