"Riding Rockets" question and help

[mako88sb]

I read Mike Mullane's "Riding Rockets" a couple years ago and one part of regarding how females were viewed in Saudi Arabia stuck out as described below:


I definitely tested Shannon Lucid’s feminist tolerance a few times. Shannon’s first flight had Saudi Arabian Prince Sultan Salman Al-Saud aboard and after the mission he invited the crew and their spouses to visit Saudi Arabia. Shannon’s husband could not make the trip. Shannon wasn’t concerned. She didn’t need a man to hold her hand. Wrong. Saudi Arabia did not allow women to enter the country alone. She had to have a male escort.

When Shannon heard this she told headquarters she wasn’t going. NASA HQ and the State Department were concerned about the potential press photo featuring only the men from the mission being greeted in Riyadh by King Fahd, so they asked the Saudis to look into their laws for a loophole.

I was in my office when a TFNG came in with word they had found one. The Saudis would allow Shannon to enter as Dan Brandenstein’s honorary daughter. Or, she could enter as John Fabian’s honorary sister. Or, they might make a special exception, as they had when the Queen of England had visited the country, and designate Shannon an honorary man.

When the men in my office heard this, we exploded in laughter. What greater insult could a feminist hear than to be told she must take on the label “man” to get some respect. When I heard this, I couldn’t contain the joker in me. I immediately went to Shannon’s office and congratulated her on having achieved the highest honor a woman could ever hope to achieve… to be designated an honorary man. Shannon had a lively sense of humor and laughed at my attics, but I made certain not to walk down the stairs in front of her for the next few weeks.


So according to this, the Queen of England was given the title of a "Honorary Man" when she visited Saudi Arabia. Back when I read this 2 years ago, I checked it out and actually found a picture of a news clipping confirming this. Trouble is, that I can't seem to find anything about it anymore. I was telling a guy at work about it and he's from England and never heard about this. I was going to lend him my book but I also wanted to email him anything I could find on the web about it. Just wondering if anybody here knows more about it. Any help would be greatly appreciated.