Record-Breaking Space Trip Near The End Shuttle To Bring Woman Astronaut Back After Six Months

Relief is on the way for NASA astronaut Shannon Lucid.

Space shuttle Atlantis blasted off Monday on a mission to bring her home from the Russian space station Mir, where she has spent a record-breaking six months in orbit.

Atlantis, more than six weeks late because of mechanical trouble and two hurricanes, is supposed to dock with Mir late Wednesday, despite the failure of a critical power unit that could force NASA to cut the flight short.

Lucid will immediately trade places with shuttle astronaut John Blaha, her replacement.

NASA briefly considered moving up the docking to Tuesday because of the mysterious shutdown of one of three hydraulic power units minutes after liftoff. But the space agency held to its original schedule because of the extra fuel that would have to be used to arrive at Mir early.

The problem still could lead NASA to shorten the docked phase of the 10-day mission and bring Lucid back to Earth a little early.

The three hydraulic units are not used in orbit but are vital during the launch and the landing, controlling the wing flaps, rudder and landing gear. The shuttle probably could land safely with just one of the units, but NASA prefers to have two working backups.

Mir was over the Pacific west of South America when Atlantis and its crew of six finally took off at 4:54 a.m. Because of the way Mir was turned, Lucid and her two Russian crewmates were out of radio contact at the time.

The 53-year-old biochemist and mother of three grown children has been living on Mir since March and should have been home in early August. But problems with booster rockets (the two on Atlantis had to be replaced) and bad weather delayed her ride.

If Atlantis returns as scheduled on Sept. 26, Lucid will have spent 188 days in space. She already holds the U.S. space endurance record as well as the world record for a woman.