Kennedy Space Center (NAPSI) - Space Shuttle astronauts and American heroes Shannon Lucid and Jerry Ross recently joined the ranks of legendary space pioneers Neil Armstrong, John Glenn, Alan Shepard, Jim Lovell, Sally Ride and John Young with their induction into the U.S. Astronaut Hall of Fame during a moving ceremony at Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

Lucid is the only American woman to serve aboard the Russian Space Station Mir, and Ross is the first human to complete seven space shuttle missions. The setting for the induction, underneath the Atlantis orbiter in the new Space Shuttle AtlantisSM attraction at the Visitor Complex, was fitting because Atlantis carried Lucid to Mir for her historic 188 days on the space station in 1996, and five of Ross' seven flights were on Atlantis. The Astronaut Hall of Fame, part of the popular Visitor Complex, features fascinating and historic spacecraft from the U.S. Space Program and the world's largest collection of personal astronaut memorabilia.