On Saturday, May 3, Shannon Lucid and Jerry Ross were inducted to the Astronaut Hall of Fame at the NASA Kennedy Space Center in Florida, inside the Space Shuttle Atlantis exhibit.

Both of them were inducted by a group of more than 20 members of their fellow honorees. It is a sheer chance that both of them have set respective records while flying aboard. Another coincidence between them is both of them were launched into orbit for the first time in 1985 and got retired from NASA in 2012.

Lucid has been NASA's Chief Scientist at NASA'S headquarters in Washington. She was the part of NASA astronaut group that included women for the first time. From August 1991 to June 2007, she has remained in space for 223 days.

She is the only American to have served in Russian Mir space station. She is also the holder of the most days spent in space as a woman. Meanwhile, Ross started as a test pilot and was part of seven shuttle missions.

He has spent 58 days in space and carried out nine space walks of total 58 hours and 18 minutes. For Lucid coming back to Atlantis is like homecoming. Ross said out of seven space times, five have been on the space shuttle Atlantis and is his favourite space shuttle.

"So to be inducted with the space shuttle Atlantis right next to me is like having your cake, and ice cream, and cherries, and everything else", said Ross.

To be eligible for induction in 2014, there are a set of criteria to be met like astronauts should have made their first spaceflight in 1996 or earlier. Secondly, he or she should be a US citizen and has served as a NASA-trained commander, pilot or mission specialist who orbited the earth at least once.