Remember Das Boot, that spookily claustrophobic movie about life aboard a World War II German submarine? That’s nothing compared to the 179 days Lucid spent in space in 1996 aboard Russia’s by-then sputtering Mir space station. Mir was a great ship, but by the end it was just plain falling apart. Nonetheless, Lucid was aboard for a full half year, conducting biological and physical sciences experiments and not complaining when technical problems bedeviling the launch of the next space shuttle delayed her ride home for six weeks. That was just one of five flights Lucid made from 1985 to 1996. For 16 years—from 1991 to 2007—she held the record for most days in orbit by any woman from any nation.