Shuttle-Mir Program
Encyclopedia
The Shuttle–Mir Program was a collaborative space program between Russia and the United States, which involved American Space Shuttle
s visiting the Russian space station
Mir
, Russian cosmonauts flying on the shuttle and an American astronaut flying aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to engage in long-duration expeditions aboard Mir.
The project, sometimes called "Phase One", was intended to allow the United States to learn from Russian experience with long-duration spaceflight and to foster a spirit of cooperation between the two nations and their space agencies, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency
(Roskosmos). The project helped to prepare the way for further cooperative space ventures; specifically, "Phase Two" of the joint project, the construction of the International Space Station
(ISS). The program was announced in 1993, the first mission started in 1994 and the project continued until its scheduled completion in 1998. Eleven Space Shuttle missions, a joint Soyuz flight and almost 1000 cumulative days in space for American astronauts occurred over the course of seven long-duration expeditions.
During the four-year program, many firsts in spaceflight
were achieved by the two nations, including the first American astronaut to launch aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, the largest spacecraft
ever to have been assembled at that time in history, and the first American spacewalk using a Russian Orlan spacesuit
.
The program was marred by various concerns, notably the safety of Mir following a fire and a collision, financial issues with the cash-strapped Russian Space Program and worries from astronauts about the attitudes of the program administrators. Nevertheless, a large amount of science, expertise in space station construction and knowledge in working in a cooperative space venture was gained from the combined operations, allowing the construction of the ISS to proceed much more smoothly than would have otherwise been the case.
Although the Shuttle-Mir program was conceived as a part of the International Space Station
(ISS) project, which represents a union of several space station projects from various nations, it had its origins in the Cold War
. During the early 1980s, NASA had planned to launch a modular space station called Freedom
as a counterpart to the Soviet Salyut and Mir space stations. At the same time, the Soviets were planning to construct Mir-2
in the 1990s as a replacement for Mir.
Because of budget and design constraints however, Freedom never progressed past mock-ups and minor component tests, and with the fall of the Soviet Union ending the Cold War and Space Race
, Freedom was nearly cancelled by the United States House of Representatives
. The post-Soviet economic chaos
in Russia
also led to the cancellation of Mir-2, though only after its base block, DOS-8, had been constructed. Similar budgetary difficulties were being faced by other nations with space station projects, prompting American government officials to start negotiations with partners in Europe, Russia, Japan, and Canada in the early 1990s to begin a collaborative, multi-national, space station project.
In June 1992, American President
George H. W. Bush
and Russian president Boris Yeltsin
agreed to co-operate on space exploration
by signing the Agreement between the United States of America and the Russian Federation Concerning Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes. This agreement called for setting up a short, joint space project, during which one American astronaut
would board the Russian space station Mir and two Russian cosmonauts would board a Space Shuttle.
In September 1993, American Vice-President Al Gore, Jr., and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin
announced plans for a new space station, which eventually became the International Space Station. They also agreed, in preparation for this new project, that the United States would be heavily involved in the Mir project in the years ahead, under the code name "Phase One" (the construction of the ISS being "Phase Two").
During the course of the project, 11 Space Shuttle missions visited the station, rotating crews and delivering supplies. In addition, one of the flights, STS-74
, carried new components to Mir, consisting of a docking module and a pair solar arrays. Various scientific experiments were also conducted, both on shuttle flights and long-term aboard the station. The project also saw the launch of two new modules, Spektr
and Priroda
, to Mir, which were used by American astronauts as living quarters and laboratories to conduct the majority of their science aboard the station. These missions allowed NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency to learn a great deal about how best to work with international partners in space and how to minimize the risks associated with assembling a large space station in orbit, as would have to be done with the ISS.
The project also served as a political ruse on the part of the American government, providing a diplomatic channel for NASA to take part in the funding of the cripplingly under-funded Russian space program. This in turn allowed the newly fledged Russian government
to keep Mir operating, in addition to the Russian space program as a whole, ensuring the Russian government remained (and remains) friendly towards the United States.
, Shannon Lucid
, John Blaha, Jerry Linenger, Michael Foale
, David Wolf and Andrew Thomas
, were each flown in turn to Star City
, Russia
, to undergo training in various aspects of the operation of Mir and the Soyuz spacecraft
used for transport to and from the Station. The astronauts also received practice in carrying out spacewalks outside Mir and lessons in the Russian language
, which would be used throughout their missions to talk with the other cosmonauts aboard the station and Mission Control in Russia, the TsUP.
During their expeditions aboard Mir, the astronauts carried out various experiments, including growth of crops and crystals, and took hundreds of photographs of the Earth
spinning serenely beneath them. They also assisted in the maintenance and repair of the aging station, following various incidents with fires, collisions, power losses, uncontrolled spins and toxic leaks. In all, the American astronauts would spend almost a thousand days aboard Mir, allowing NASA to learn a great deal about long-duration spaceflight, particularly in the areas of astronaut psychology and how best to arrange experiment schedules for crews aboard space stations.
in space, and previously held the record for longest continuous human presence in space, at eight days short of ten years. Mir's purpose was to provide a large and habitable scientific laboratory in space, and, through a number of collaborations, including Intercosmos
and Shuttle-Mir, was made internationally accessible to cosmonauts and astronauts of many different countries. The station existed until March 23, 2001, at which point it was deliberately deorbited, and broke apart during atmospheric re-entry.
Mir was based upon the Salyut
series of space stations previously launched by the Soviet Union
(seven Salyut space stations had been launched since 1971), and was mainly serviced by Russian-manned Soyuz spacecraft
and Progress
cargo ships. The Buran space shuttle was anticipated to visit Mir, but its program was canceled after its first unmanned spaceflight. Visiting US Space Shuttles used a Androgynous Peripheral Attach System
docking collar originally designed for Buran, mounted on a bracket originally designed for use with the American Space Station Freedom
.
With the Space Shuttle docked to Mir, the temporary enlargements of living and working areas amounted to a complex that was the world's largest spacecraft
at that time, with a combined mass of 250 metric tons (246.1 LT).
's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), is the United States
government's most recent manned
launch vehicle
. A total of five usable orbiters were built, of which three were in use until the program's retirement in 2011. The winged shuttle Orbiter
is launched vertically, usually carrying five to seven astronaut
s (although eight have been carried and eleven could be accommodated in an emergency) along with up to 50000 pounds (22,679.6 kg) of payload into low earth orbit
. When its mission is complete, it fires its manoeuvring thrusters to drop out of orbit and re-enters
the Earth's atmosphere
. During the descent and landing, the shuttle Orbiter acts as a glider
and makes a completely unpowered landing.
The Shuttle is the first orbital spacecraft
designed for partial reusability
. It carries large payloads to various orbits, and, during the Shuttle–Mir and ISS programs, provides crew rotation and carries various supplies, modules and pieces of equipment to the stations. Each Shuttle was designed for a projected lifespan of 100 launches or 10 years' operational life.
During the course of Phase One, Mir was visited by Space Shuttles , and , with Atlantis in particular flying seven straight missions to the station from 1995 to 1997. Space Shuttle , the oldest and heaviest of the fleet, was incapable of efficient operations at Mir (and later the ISS's
) 51.6-degree inclination and was not equipped with an external airlock, required for space station dockings.
on its 18th mission, STS-60
. The eight-day mission was the first shuttle flight of that year, the first flight of a Russian Cosmonaut, Sergei Krikalev
, aboard the American shuttle, and marked the start of increased cooperation in space for the two nations, 37 years after the Space Race
began. Part of an international agreement
on human space flight, the mission was the second flight of the Spacehab
pressurized module and marked the hundredth "Getaway Special
" payload to fly in space. The primary payload for the mission was the Wake Shield Facility
(or WSF), a device designed to generate new semiconductor films for advanced electronics. The WSF was flown at the end of Discoverys robotic arm over the course of the flight. During the mission, the astronauts aboard Discovery also carried out various experiments aboard the Spacehab
module in the Orbiter's payload bay, and took part in a live bi-directional audio and downlink video hookup between themselves and the three Cosmonauts on board Mir, Valeri Polyakov, Viktor Afanasyev
and Yury Usachev
(flying Mir expeditions LD-4 and EO-15).
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. Referred to as the "near-Mir" mission, the eight-day flight saw the first rendezvous of a Space Shuttle with Mir, as Russian Cosmonaut Vladimir Titov
and the rest of Discoverys crew approached within 37 feet (11.3 m) of Mir. Following the rendezvous, Collins performed a flyaround of the station. The mission, a dress rehearsal for the first docked mission in the program, STS-71
, also carried out testing of various techniques and pieces of equipment that would be used during the docking missions that followed.
Five weeks after Discoverys flight, the March 14 launch of Soyuz TM-21
carried expedition EO-18 to Mir. The crew consisted of Cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov
and Gennady Strekalov
and NASA Astronaut Norman Thagard
, who became the first American to fly into space aboard the Soyuz spacecraft
. During the course of their 115 day expedition, the Spektr
science module (which served as living and working space for American astronauts) was launched aboard a Proton rocket
and docked to Mir. Spektr carried more than 1500 pounds (680.4 kg) of research equipment from America and other nations. The expedition's crew returned to Earth aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis
following the first Shuttle–Mir docking during mission STS-71
.
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The primary objectives of STS-71, launched on June 27, called for the Space Shuttle Atlantis to rendezvous and perform the first docking between an American Space Shuttle and the station. On June 29, Atlantis successfully docked with Mir, becoming the first US spacecraft to dock with a Russian spacecraft since the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
in 1975. Atlantis delivered Cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev
and Nikolai Budarin
, who would form the expedition EO-19 crew, and retrieved Astronaut Norman Thagard and Cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Gennady Strekalov of the expedition EO-18 crew. Atlantis also carried out on-orbit joint US-Russian life sciences investigations aboard a Spacelab
module and performed a logistical resupply of the station.
The final Shuttle flight of 1995, STS-74
, began with the November 12 launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis, and delivered the Russian-built Docking Module
to Mir, along with a new pair of solar arrays and other hardware upgrades for the station. The Docking Module was designed to provide more clearance for Shuttles in order to prevent any collisions with Mir's solar arrays during docking, a problem which had been overcome during STS-71
by relocating the station's Kristall
module to a different location on the station. The module, attached to Kristalls docking port, prevented the need for this procedure on further missions. During the course of the flight, nearly 1000 pounds (453.6 kg) of water were transferred to Mir and experiment samples including blood, urine and saliva were moved to Atlantis for return to Earth.
, when the Second Increment astronaut Shannon Lucid
was transferred to the station. STS-76 was the third docking mission to Mir, which also demonstrated logistics capabilities through deployment of a Spacehab
module, and placed experiment packages aboard Mirs docking module, which marked the first spacewalk which occurred around docked vehicles. The spacewalks, carried out from Atlantis's crew cabin, provided valuable experience for astronauts in order to prepare for later assembly missions to the International Space Station
.
Lucid became the first American woman to live on station, and, following a six-week extension to her Increment due to issues with Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters
, her 188-day mission set the US single spaceflight record. During Lucid's time aboard Mir, the Priroda
module, with about 2200 pounds (997.9 kg) of US science hardware, was docked to Mir. Lucid made use of both Priroda and Spektr to carry out 28 different science experiments and as living quarters.
Her stay aboard Mir ended with the flight of Atlantis on STS-79
, which launched on September 16. STS-79 was the first Shuttle mission to carry a double Spacehab module. More than 4000 pounds (1,814.4 kg) of supplies were transferred to Mir, including water generated by Atlantiss fuel cell
s, and experiments that included investigations into superconductors
, cartilage
development, and other biology studies. About 2000 pounds (907.2 kg) of experiment samples and equipment were also transferred back from Mir to Atlantis, making the total transfer the most extensive yet.
This, the fourth docking, also saw John Blaha transferring onto Mir to take his place as resident Increment astronaut. His stay on the station improved operations in several areas, including transfer procedures for a docked space shuttle, "hand-over" procedures for long duration American crew members and "Ham" amateur radio
communications.
Two spacewalks were carried out during his time aboard. Their aim was to remove electrical power
connectors from a 12-year old solar power
array on the base block and reconnect the cables to the more efficient new solar power arrays. In all, Blaha spent four months with the Mir-22 Cosmonaut crew conducting material science, fluid science
, and life science research, before returning to Earth the next year aboard Atlantis on STS-81
.
replaced Increment astronaut John Blaha with Jerry Linenger, after Blaha's 118-day stay aboard Mir. During this fifth shuttle docking, the crew of Atlantis moved supplies to the station and returned to Earth the first plants to complete a life cycle in space; a crop of wheat planted by Shannon Lucid. During five days of mated operations, the crews transferred nearly 6000 pounds (2,721.6 kg) of logistics to Mir, and transferred 2400 pounds (1,088.6 kg) of materials back to Atlantis (the most materials transferred between the two spacecraft to that date).
The STS-81 crew also tested the Shuttle Treadmill Vibration Isolation
and Stabilization System (TVIS), designed for use in the Zvezda module of the International Space Station. The shuttle's small vernier jet thrusters were fired during the mated operations to gather engineering data for "reboosting" the ISS. After undocking, Atlantis performed a fly-around of Mir, leaving Linenger aboard the station.
During his Increment, Linenger became the first American to conduct a spacewalk from a foreign space station and the first to test the Russian-built Orlan-M
spacesuit alongside Russian cosmonaut Vasili Tsibliyev
. All three crewmembers of expedition EO-23 performed a "fly-around" in the Soyuz spacecraft, first undocking from one docking port of the station, then manually flying to and redocking the capsule at a different location. This made Linenger the first American to undock from a space station aboard two different spacecraft (Space Shuttle and Soyuz).
Linenger and his Russian crewmates Vasili Tsibliyev and Aleksandr Lazutkin
faced several difficulties during the mission. These included the most severe fire aboard an orbiting spacecraft (caused by a backup oxygen-generating device), failures of various on board systems, a near collision with a Progress
resupply cargo ship during a long-distance manual docking system test and a total loss of station electrical power. The power failure also caused a loss of attitude control, which led to an uncontrolled "tumble" through space.
The next NASA astronaut to stay on Mir was Michael Foale
. Foale and Russian mission specialist Elena Kondakova boarded Mir from Atlantis on mission STS-84
. The STS-84 crew transferred 249 items between the two spacecraft, along with water, experiment samples, supplies and hardware. One of the first items transferred to Mir was an Elektron oxygen-generating unit. Atlantis was stopped three times while backing away during the undocking sequence on May 21. The aim was to collect data from a European sensor device designed for future rendezvous of ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle
(ATV) with the International Space Station.
Foale's Increment proceeded fairly normally until June 25, when a resupply ship collided with solar arrays on the Spektr
module during the second test of the Progress manual docking system, TORU. The module's outer shell was hit and holed, which caused the station to lose pressure. This was the first on-orbit depressurization in the history of spaceflight. The crew quickly cut cables leading to the module and closed Spektr's hatch in order to prevent the need to abandon the station in their Soyuz lifeboat. Their efforts stabilized the station's air pressure, whilst the pressure in Spektr, containing many of Foale's experiments and personal effects, dropped to a vacuum. Fortunately, food, water and other vital supplies were stored in other modules, and salvage and replanning effort by Foale and the science community minimized the loss of research data and capability.
In an effort to restore some of the power and systems lost following the isolation of Spektr and to attempt to locate the leak, Mir's new commander Anatoly Solovyev
and flight engineer
Pavel Vinogradov carried out a salvage operation later in the mission. They entered the empty module during a so-called "IVA" spacewalk, inspecting the condition of hardware and running cables through a special hatch from Spektr's systems to the rest of the station. Following these first investigations, Foale and Solovyev conducted a 6-hour EVA on the surface of Spektr to inspect the damaged module.
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After these incidents, the US Congress and NASA considered whether to abandon the program out of concern for astronauts' safety but NASA administrator Daniel Goldin
decided to continue the program. The next flight to Mir, STS-86
, brought Increment astronaut David Wolf to the station.
STS-86 performed the seventh Shuttle–Mir docking, the last of 1997. During Atlantis' s stay crew members Titov and Parazynski conducted the first joint US–Russian extravehicular activity during a Shuttle mission, and the first in which a Russian wore a US spacesuit. During the five-hour spacewalk, the pair affixed a 121 pounds (54.9 kg) Solar Array Cap to the Docking Module
, for a future attempt by crew members to seal off the leak in Spektr' s hull. The mission returned Foale to Earth, along with samples, hardware, and an old Elektron oxygen generator, and dropped Wolf off on the Station ready for his 128 day Increment. Wolf had originally been scheduled to be the final Mir astronaut, but was chosen to go on the Increment instead of astronaut Wendy Lawrence. Lawrence was deemed ineligible for flight because of a change in Russian requirements after the Progress supply vehicle collision. The new rules required that all Mir crew members should be trained and ready for spacewalks, but a Russian spacesuit could not be prepared for Lawrence in time for launch.
on STS-89
. The mission delivered Cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov
to Mir and replaced David Wolf with Andy Thomas
, following Wolf's 119 day Increment.
During his Increment, the last of the program, Thomas worked on 27 science investigations into areas of advanced technology, Earth science
s, human life sciences, microgravity research, and ISS risk mitigation. His stay on Mir, considered the smoothest of the entire Phase One program, featured weekly "Letters from the Outpost" from Thomas and passed two milestones for length of spaceflight—815 consecutive days in space by American astronauts since the launch of Shannon Lucid on the STS-76 mission in March 1996, and 907 days of Mir occupancy by American astronauts dating back to Norman Thagard's trip to Mir in March 1995.
Thomas returned to Earth on the final Shuttle–Mir mission, STS-91
. The mission closed out Phase One, with the EO-25 and STS-91 crews transferring water to Mir and exchanging almost 4700 pounds (2,131.9 kg) of cargo experiments and supplies between the two spacecraft. Long-term American experiments that had been on board Mir were also moved into Discovery. Hatches were closed for undocking at 9:07 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on June 8 and the spacecraft separated at 12:01 p.m. EDT that day.
on June 12, 1998, the Phase One program concluded. Techniques and equipment developed during the program assisted the development of Phase Two: initial assembly of the International Space Station (ISS). , the ISS consists of ten pressurized modules and a large truss structure, which makes it the largest spacecraft ever assembled. The arrival of the Destiny Laboratory Module in 2001 marked the end of Phase Two and the start of Phase Three, the final outfitting of the station, currently in progress.
The completed station will consist of five laboratories and be able to support six crew members. With over 1000 cubic metres (35,314.7 cu ft) of pressurized volume and a mass of 400000 kilograms (881,849 lb) the completed station will be almost twice the size of the combined Shuttle–Mir spacecraft. Phases Two and Three are intended to continue both international cooperation in space and zero-gravity scientific research, particularly regarding long-duration spaceflight. The results of this research will provide considerable information for long-duration expeditions to the Moon
and flights to Mars
.
Following the intentional deorbiting of Mir on March 23, 2001, the ISS became the only space station in orbit around Earth. Mirs legacy lives on in the station, bringing together five space agencies in the cause of exploration and allowing those space agencies to prepare for their next leap into space, to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
The fire, caused by the malfunction of a backup solid-fuel oxygen generator (SFOG), burned for, according to various sources, between 90 seconds and 14 minutes, and produced large amounts of toxic smoke that filled the station for around 45 minutes. This forced the crew to don respirators, but some of the respirator masks initially worn were broken. Fire extinguisher
s mounted on the walls of the modules were immovable. The fire occurred during a crew rotation, and as such there were six men aboard the station rather than the usual three. Access to one of the docked Soyuz lifeboats was blocked, which would have prevented escape by half of the crew. A similar incident had occurred on an earlier Mir expedition, although in that case the SFOG burned for only a few seconds.
The near-miss and collision incidents presented further safety issues. Both were caused by failure of the same piece of equipment, the TORU manual docking system, which was undergoing tests at the time. The tests were called in order to gauge the performance of long-distance docking in order to enable the cash-strapped Russians to remove the expensive Kurs
automatic docking system from the Progress ships.
The accidents also added to the increasingly vocal criticism of the aging station's reliability. Astronaut Blaine Hammond claimed that his safety concerns about Mir were ignored by NASA officials, and that records of safety meetings "disappeared from a locked vault". Mir was originally designed to fly for five years but eventually flew for three times that length of time. During Phase One and afterward, the station was showing her age—constant computer crashes, loss of power, uncontrolled tumbles through space and leaking pipes were an ever-present concern for crews. Various breakdowns of Mirs Elektron oxygen-generating system were also a concern. These breakdowns led crews to become increasingly reliant on the SFOG systems that caused the fire in 1997. SFOG systems continue to be a problem aboard the ISS.
Another issue of controversy was the scale of its actual scientific return, particularly following the loss of the Spektr science module. Astronauts, managers and various members of the press all complained that the benefits of the program were outweighed by the risks associated with it, especially considering the fact that most of the US science experiments had been contained within the holed module. As such, a large amount of American research was inaccessible, reducing the science that could be performed. The safety issues caused NASA to reconsider the future of the program at various times. The agency eventually decided to continue and came under fire from various areas of the press regarding that decision.
and earlier space missions that this level of control was not productive and had since made mission plans more flexible. The Russians, however, would not budge, and many felt that significant work time was lost because of this.
Following the two accidents in 1997, astronaut Jerry Linenger felt that the Russian authorities attempted a cover-up to downplay the significance of the incidents, fearing that the Americans would back out of the partnership. A large part of this "cover-up" was the seeming impression that the American astronauts were not in fact "partners" aboard the station, but were instead "guests". NASA staff did not find out for several hours about the fire and collision and found themselves kept out of decision-making processes. NASA became more involved when Russian mission controllers intended to place blame for the accident entirely on Vasily Tsibliyev. It was only after the application of significant pressure from NASA that this stance was changed.
At various times during the program, NASA managers and personnel found themselves limited in terms of resources and manpower, particularly as Phase Two geared up, and had a hard time getting anywhere with NASA administration. One particular area of contention was with crew assignments to missions. Many astronauts allege that the method of selection prevented the most skilled people from performing roles they were best-suited for.
had been slowly collapsing and the budget for space exploration was reduced by around 80%. Before and after Phase One, a great deal of Russia's space finances came from flights of astronauts from Europe and other countries, with one Japanese TV station
paying $9.5 million to have one of their reporters, Toyohiro Akiyama
, flown aboard Mir. By the start of Phase One, cosmonauts regularly found their missions extended to save money on launchers, the six-yearly flights of the Progress
had been reduced to three, and there was a distinct possibility of Mir being sold for around $500 million.
Critics argued that the $325 million contract NASA had with Russia was the only thing keeping the Russian space program alive, and only the Space Shuttle was keeping Mir aloft. NASA also had to pay hefty fees for training manual
s and equipment used by astronauts training at Star City
. Problems came to a head when ABC's
Nightline revealed that there was a distinct possibility of embezzlement of American finances by the Russian authorities in order to build a suite of new cosmonaut houses in Moscow
, or else that the building projects were being funded by the Russian Mafia
. NASA administrator Goldin was invited onto Nightline to defend the homes but he refused to comment. NASA's office for external affairs was quoted as saying that "What Russia does with its own money is their business."
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
s visiting the Russian space station
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
Mir
Mir
Mir was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the...
, Russian cosmonauts flying on the shuttle and an American astronaut flying aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to engage in long-duration expeditions aboard Mir.
The project, sometimes called "Phase One", was intended to allow the United States to learn from Russian experience with long-duration spaceflight and to foster a spirit of cooperation between the two nations and their space agencies, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency
Russian Federal Space Agency
The Russian Federal Space Agency , commonly called Roscosmos and abbreviated as FKA and RKA , is the government agency responsible for the Russian space science program and general aerospace research. It was previously the Russian Aviation and Space Agency .Headquarters of Roscosmos are located...
(Roskosmos). The project helped to prepare the way for further cooperative space ventures; specifically, "Phase Two" of the joint project, the construction of the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
(ISS). The program was announced in 1993, the first mission started in 1994 and the project continued until its scheduled completion in 1998. Eleven Space Shuttle missions, a joint Soyuz flight and almost 1000 cumulative days in space for American astronauts occurred over the course of seven long-duration expeditions.
During the four-year program, many firsts in spaceflight
Spaceflight
Spaceflight is the act of travelling into or through outer space. Spaceflight can occur with spacecraft which may, or may not, have humans on board. Examples of human spaceflight include the Russian Soyuz program, the U.S. Space shuttle program, as well as the ongoing International Space Station...
were achieved by the two nations, including the first American astronaut to launch aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, the largest spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
ever to have been assembled at that time in history, and the first American spacewalk using a Russian Orlan spacesuit
Orlan space suits
thumb|right|270px|Cosmonaut [[Maksim Surayev]] next to two Orlan-MK modelsAn Orlan space suit |sea eagle]]) is a series of semi-rigid one-piece space suit models designed and built by NPP Zvezda. They have been used for spacewalks in the Russian space program, the successor to the Soviet space...
.
The program was marred by various concerns, notably the safety of Mir following a fire and a collision, financial issues with the cash-strapped Russian Space Program and worries from astronauts about the attitudes of the program administrators. Nevertheless, a large amount of science, expertise in space station construction and knowledge in working in a cooperative space venture was gained from the combined operations, allowing the construction of the ISS to proceed much more smoothly than would have otherwise been the case.
Background
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
(ISS) project, which represents a union of several space station projects from various nations, it had its origins in the Cold War
Cold War
The Cold War was the continuing state from roughly 1946 to 1991 of political conflict, military tension, proxy wars, and economic competition between the Communist World—primarily the Soviet Union and its satellite states and allies—and the powers of the Western world, primarily the United States...
. During the early 1980s, NASA had planned to launch a modular space station called Freedom
Space Station Freedom
Space Station Freedom was a NASA project to construct a permanently manned Earth-orbiting space station in the 1980s. Although approved by then-president Ronald Reagan and announced in the 1984 State of the Union Address, Freedom was never constructed or completed as originally designed, and after...
as a counterpart to the Soviet Salyut and Mir space stations. At the same time, the Soviets were planning to construct Mir-2
Mir-2
Mir-2 was a space station project begun in February 1976. Some of the modules built for Mir-2 have been incorporated into the International Space Station . The project underwent many changes, but was always based on the DOS-8 base block space station core module, built as a back-up to the DOS-7...
in the 1990s as a replacement for Mir.
Because of budget and design constraints however, Freedom never progressed past mock-ups and minor component tests, and with the fall of the Soviet Union ending the Cold War and Space Race
Space Race
The Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space exploration. Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national...
, Freedom was nearly cancelled by the United States House of Representatives
United States House of Representatives
The United States House of Representatives is one of the two Houses of the United States Congress, the bicameral legislature which also includes the Senate.The composition and powers of the House are established in Article One of the Constitution...
. The post-Soviet economic chaos
History of post-Soviet Russia
With the dissolution of the Soviet Union on 29 May 1991, the Russian Federation became an independent country.Russia was the largest of the fifteen republics that made up the Soviet Union, accounting for over 60% of the gross domestic product and over 50% of the Soviet population. Russians also...
in Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
also led to the cancellation of Mir-2, though only after its base block, DOS-8, had been constructed. Similar budgetary difficulties were being faced by other nations with space station projects, prompting American government officials to start negotiations with partners in Europe, Russia, Japan, and Canada in the early 1990s to begin a collaborative, multi-national, space station project.
In June 1992, American President
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
George H. W. Bush
George H. W. Bush
George Herbert Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 41st President of the United States . He had previously served as the 43rd Vice President of the United States , a congressman, an ambassador, and Director of Central Intelligence.Bush was born in Milton, Massachusetts, to...
and Russian president Boris Yeltsin
Boris Yeltsin
Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin was the first President of the Russian Federation, serving from 1991 to 1999.Originally a supporter of Mikhail Gorbachev, Yeltsin emerged under the perestroika reforms as one of Gorbachev's most powerful political opponents. On 29 May 1990 he was elected the chairman of...
agreed to co-operate on space exploration
Space exploration
Space exploration is the use of space technology to explore outer space. Physical exploration of space is conducted both by human spaceflights and by robotic spacecraft....
by signing the Agreement between the United States of America and the Russian Federation Concerning Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes. This agreement called for setting up a short, joint space project, during which one American astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
would board the Russian space station Mir and two Russian cosmonauts would board a Space Shuttle.
In September 1993, American Vice-President Al Gore, Jr., and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin
Viktor Chernomyrdin
Viktor Stepanovich Chernomyrdin was the founder and the first chairman of the Gazprom energy company, the longest serving Prime Minister of Russia and Acting President of Russia for a day in 1996. He was a key figure in Russian politics in the 1990s, and a great contributor to the Russian...
announced plans for a new space station, which eventually became the International Space Station. They also agreed, in preparation for this new project, that the United States would be heavily involved in the Mir project in the years ahead, under the code name "Phase One" (the construction of the ISS being "Phase Two").
During the course of the project, 11 Space Shuttle missions visited the station, rotating crews and delivering supplies. In addition, one of the flights, STS-74
STS-74
STS-74 was a Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station. It was the fourth mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, and it carried out the second docking of a space shuttle to Mir. Atlantis lifted off for the mission on 12 November 1995 from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A,...
, carried new components to Mir, consisting of a docking module and a pair solar arrays. Various scientific experiments were also conducted, both on shuttle flights and long-term aboard the station. The project also saw the launch of two new modules, Spektr
Spektr
Spektr was the fifth module of the Mir Space Station. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment containing atmospheric and surface research equipment...
and Priroda
Priroda
The Priroda module was the seventh and final module of the Mir Space Station. Its primary purpose was to conduct Earth resource experiments through remote sensing and to develop and verify remote sensing methods...
, to Mir, which were used by American astronauts as living quarters and laboratories to conduct the majority of their science aboard the station. These missions allowed NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency to learn a great deal about how best to work with international partners in space and how to minimize the risks associated with assembling a large space station in orbit, as would have to be done with the ISS.
The project also served as a political ruse on the part of the American government, providing a diplomatic channel for NASA to take part in the funding of the cripplingly under-funded Russian space program. This in turn allowed the newly fledged Russian government
Politics of Russia
The politics of Russia take place in a framework of a federal semi-presidential republic. According to the Constitution of Russia, the President of Russia is head of state, and of a multi-party system with executive power exercised by the government, headed by the Prime Minister, who is appointed...
to keep Mir operating, in addition to the Russian space program as a whole, ensuring the Russian government remained (and remains) friendly towards the United States.
Increments
In addition to the flights of the Shuttle to Mir, Phase One also featured seven "Increments" aboard the station, long-duration flights aboard Mir by American astronauts. The seven astronauts who took part in the Increments, Norman ThagardNorman Thagard
Norman Earl Thagard is an American scientist and former NASA astronaut. He is the first American to ride to space on board a Russian vehicle, and can be considered the first American cosmonaut...
, Shannon Lucid
Shannon Lucid
Shannon Matilda Wells Lucid is an American biochemist and a NASA astronaut. At one time, she held the record for the longest duration stay in space by an American, as well as by a woman...
, John Blaha, Jerry Linenger, Michael Foale
Michael Foale
Colin Michael Foale, CBE, PhD is a British-American astrophysicist with dual citizenship and a NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of six space shuttle missions and extended stays on both Mir and the International Space Station...
, David Wolf and Andrew Thomas
Andy Thomas
Andrew "Andy" Sydney Withiel Thomas is an Australian-born American aerospace engineer and a NASA astronaut. He became a U.S. citizen in December 1986, hoping to gain entry to NASA's astronaut program...
, were each flown in turn to Star City
Star City, Russia
Star City is a common name of an area in Moscow Oblast, Russia, which has since the 1960s been home to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center...
, Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, to undergo training in various aspects of the operation of Mir and the Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...
used for transport to and from the Station. The astronauts also received practice in carrying out spacewalks outside Mir and lessons in the Russian language
Russian language
Russian is a Slavic language used primarily in Russia, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan. It is an unofficial but widely spoken language in Ukraine, Moldova, Latvia, Turkmenistan and Estonia and, to a lesser extent, the other countries that were once constituent republics...
, which would be used throughout their missions to talk with the other cosmonauts aboard the station and Mission Control in Russia, the TsUP.
During their expeditions aboard Mir, the astronauts carried out various experiments, including growth of crops and crystals, and took hundreds of photographs of the Earth
Earth
Earth is the third planet from the Sun, and the densest and fifth-largest of the eight planets in the Solar System. It is also the largest of the Solar System's four terrestrial planets...
spinning serenely beneath them. They also assisted in the maintenance and repair of the aging station, following various incidents with fires, collisions, power losses, uncontrolled spins and toxic leaks. In all, the American astronauts would spend almost a thousand days aboard Mir, allowing NASA to learn a great deal about long-duration spaceflight, particularly in the areas of astronaut psychology and how best to arrange experiment schedules for crews aboard space stations.
Mir
Mir was constructed between 1986 and 1996 and was the world's first modular space station. It was the first consistently inhabited long-term research stationResearch station
A research station is a station built for the purpose of conducting scientific research. Research station sites might include outer space and oceans. Many nations have research stations in Antarctica; Showa Station, Halley and Troll are examples...
in space, and previously held the record for longest continuous human presence in space, at eight days short of ten years. Mir's purpose was to provide a large and habitable scientific laboratory in space, and, through a number of collaborations, including Intercosmos
Intercosmos
Interkosmos was a space program of the Soviet Union designed to include members of military forces of allied Warsaw Pact countries in manned and unmanned missions...
and Shuttle-Mir, was made internationally accessible to cosmonauts and astronauts of many different countries. The station existed until March 23, 2001, at which point it was deliberately deorbited, and broke apart during atmospheric re-entry.
Mir was based upon the Salyut
Salyut
The Salyut program was the first space station program undertaken by the Soviet Union, which consisted of a series of nine space stations launched over a period of eleven years from 1971 to 1982...
series of space stations previously launched by the Soviet Union
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
(seven Salyut space stations had been launched since 1971), and was mainly serviced by Russian-manned Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...
and Progress
Progress spacecraft
The Progress is a Russian expendable freighter spacecraft. The spacecraft is an unmanned resupply spacecraft during its flight but upon docking with a space station, it allows astronauts inside, hence it is classified manned by the manufacturer. It was derived from the Soyuz spacecraft, and is...
cargo ships. The Buran space shuttle was anticipated to visit Mir, but its program was canceled after its first unmanned spaceflight. Visiting US Space Shuttles used a Androgynous Peripheral Attach System
Androgynous Peripheral Attach System
The Androgynous Peripheral Attach System, or Androgynous Peripheral Assembly System, is a spacecraft docking mechanism used on the International Space Station. It is used to dock the Space Shuttle orbiter and to connect the Functional Cargo Block to Pressurized Mating Adapter-1...
docking collar originally designed for Buran, mounted on a bracket originally designed for use with the American Space Station Freedom
Space Station Freedom
Space Station Freedom was a NASA project to construct a permanently manned Earth-orbiting space station in the 1980s. Although approved by then-president Ronald Reagan and announced in the 1984 State of the Union Address, Freedom was never constructed or completed as originally designed, and after...
.
With the Space Shuttle docked to Mir, the temporary enlargements of living and working areas amounted to a complex that was the world's largest spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
at that time, with a combined mass of 250 metric tons (246.1 LT).
Space Shuttle
NASANASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
's Space Shuttle, officially called the Space Transportation System (STS), is the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
government's most recent manned
Human spaceflight
Human spaceflight is spaceflight with humans on the spacecraft. When a spacecraft is manned, it can be piloted directly, as opposed to machine or robotic space probes and remotely-controlled satellites....
launch vehicle
Launch vehicle
In spaceflight, a launch vehicle or carrier rocket is a rocket used to carry a payload from the Earth's surface into outer space. A launch system includes the launch vehicle, the launch pad and other infrastructure....
. A total of five usable orbiters were built, of which three were in use until the program's retirement in 2011. The winged shuttle Orbiter
Space Shuttle Orbiter
The Space Shuttle orbiter was the orbital spacecraft of the Space Shuttle program operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States. The orbiter was a reusable winged "space-plane", a mixture of rockets, spacecraft, and aircraft...
is launched vertically, usually carrying five to seven astronaut
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
s (although eight have been carried and eleven could be accommodated in an emergency) along with up to 50000 pounds (22,679.6 kg) of payload into low earth orbit
Low Earth orbit
A low Earth orbit is generally defined as an orbit within the locus extending from the Earth’s surface up to an altitude of 2,000 km...
. When its mission is complete, it fires its manoeuvring thrusters to drop out of orbit and re-enters
Atmospheric reentry
Atmospheric entry is the movement of human-made or natural objects as they enter the atmosphere of a celestial body from outer space—in the case of Earth from an altitude above the Kármán Line,...
the Earth's atmosphere
Earth's atmosphere
The atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night...
. During the descent and landing, the shuttle Orbiter acts as a glider
Glider aircraft
Glider aircraft are heavier-than-air craft that are supported in flight by the dynamic reaction of the air against their lifting surfaces, and whose free flight does not depend on an engine. Mostly these types of aircraft are intended for routine operation without engines, though engine failure can...
and makes a completely unpowered landing.
The Shuttle is the first orbital spacecraft
Spacecraft
A spacecraft or spaceship is a craft or machine designed for spaceflight. Spacecraft are used for a variety of purposes, including communications, earth observation, meteorology, navigation, planetary exploration and transportation of humans and cargo....
designed for partial reusability
Reusable launch system
A reusable launch system is a launch system which is capable of launching a launch vehicle into space more than once. This contrasts with expendable launch systems, where each launch vehicle is launched once and then discarded.No true orbital reusable launch system is currently in use. The...
. It carries large payloads to various orbits, and, during the Shuttle–Mir and ISS programs, provides crew rotation and carries various supplies, modules and pieces of equipment to the stations. Each Shuttle was designed for a projected lifespan of 100 launches or 10 years' operational life.
During the course of Phase One, Mir was visited by Space Shuttles , and , with Atlantis in particular flying seven straight missions to the station from 1995 to 1997. Space Shuttle , the oldest and heaviest of the fleet, was incapable of efficient operations at Mir (and later the ISS's
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
) 51.6-degree inclination and was not equipped with an external airlock, required for space station dockings.
Timeline
New cooperation begins (1994)
Phase One of the Shuttle–Mir Program began on February 3, 1994, with the launch of Space Shuttle DiscoverySpace Shuttle Discovery
Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States, and was operational from its maiden flight, STS-41-D on August 30, 1984, until its final landing during STS-133 on March 9, 2011...
on its 18th mission, STS-60
STS-60
STS-60 was the first mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, which carried Sergei K. Krikalev, the first Russian cosmonaut to fly aboard a Space Shuttle. The mission used Space Shuttle Discovery, which lifted off from Launch Pad 39A on 3 February 1994 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida...
. The eight-day mission was the first shuttle flight of that year, the first flight of a Russian Cosmonaut, Sergei Krikalev
Sergei Krikalev
Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalev is a Russian cosmonaut and mechanical engineer. As a prominent rocket scientist, he has been veteran of six space flights and currently has spent more time in space than any other human being.On August 16, 2005 at 1:44 a.m...
, aboard the American shuttle, and marked the start of increased cooperation in space for the two nations, 37 years after the Space Race
Space Race
The Space Race was a mid-to-late 20th century competition between the Soviet Union and the United States for supremacy in space exploration. Between 1957 and 1975, Cold War rivalry between the two nations focused on attaining firsts in space exploration, which were seen as necessary for national...
began. Part of an international agreement
Treaty
A treaty is an express agreement under international law entered into by actors in international law, namely sovereign states and international organizations. A treaty may also be known as an agreement, protocol, covenant, convention or exchange of letters, among other terms...
on human space flight, the mission was the second flight of the Spacehab
SPACEHAB
Astrotech Corporation , formerly Spacehab Inc., is an aerospace company headquartered in Austin, Texas which provides commercial space products and services to NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense, international space agencies, and global commercial customers...
pressurized module and marked the hundredth "Getaway Special
Getaway Special
Getaway Special was a NASA program that offered interested individuals, or groups, opportunities to fly small experiments aboard the Space Shuttle...
" payload to fly in space. The primary payload for the mission was the Wake Shield Facility
Wake Shield Facility
]Wake Shield Facility is an experimental science platform that was placed in low-earth orbit by the Space Shuttle. It is a 3.7 meter diameter, free-flying stainless steel disk....
(or WSF), a device designed to generate new semiconductor films for advanced electronics. The WSF was flown at the end of Discoverys robotic arm over the course of the flight. During the mission, the astronauts aboard Discovery also carried out various experiments aboard the Spacehab
SPACEHAB
Astrotech Corporation , formerly Spacehab Inc., is an aerospace company headquartered in Austin, Texas which provides commercial space products and services to NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense, international space agencies, and global commercial customers...
module in the Orbiter's payload bay, and took part in a live bi-directional audio and downlink video hookup between themselves and the three Cosmonauts on board Mir, Valeri Polyakov, Viktor Afanasyev
Viktor M. Afanasyev
Viktor Mikhailovich Afanasyev ; born 31 December 1948) is a colonel in the Russian Air Force and a test cosmonaut of the Yu. A. Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center. He was born December 31, 1948, in Bryansk, Russia, and is married to Yelena Ya. Afanasyeva, born 1952. They have two children. His...
and Yury Usachev
Yury Usachev
Yury Vladimirovich Usachov is a former cosmonaut who resides in Star City, Moscow. Usachov is a veteran of four spaceflights, including two long duration missions on board the Mir Space Station and another on board the International Space Station...
(flying Mir expeditions LD-4 and EO-15).
America arrives at Mir (1995)
1995 began with the launch of the Space Shuttle Discovery on February 3. Discovery's mission, STS-63, was the second Space Shuttle flight in the program and the first flight of the shuttle with a female pilot, Eileen CollinsEileen Collins
Eileen Marie Collins is a retired American astronaut and a retired U.S. Air Force Colonel. A former military instructor and test pilot, Collins was the first female pilot and first female commander of a Space Shuttle. She was awarded several medals for her work. Col. Collins has logged 38 days 8...
. Referred to as the "near-Mir" mission, the eight-day flight saw the first rendezvous of a Space Shuttle with Mir, as Russian Cosmonaut Vladimir Titov
Vladimir Titov
Vladimir Georgiyevich Titov , Colonel, Russian Air Force, Ret., and former Russian cosmonaut was born January 1, 1947, in Sretensk, in the Zabaykalsky Krai region of Russia. He is married to the former Alexandra Kozlova of Ivanovo Region, Russia...
and the rest of Discoverys crew approached within 37 feet (11.3 m) of Mir. Following the rendezvous, Collins performed a flyaround of the station. The mission, a dress rehearsal for the first docked mission in the program, STS-71
STS-71
STS-71 was the third mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, which carried out the first Space Shuttle docking to Mir, a Russian space station. The mission used Space Shuttle Atlantis, which lifted off from launch pad 39A on 27 June 1995 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida...
, also carried out testing of various techniques and pieces of equipment that would be used during the docking missions that followed.
Five weeks after Discoverys flight, the March 14 launch of Soyuz TM-21
Soyuz TM-21
Soyuz TM-21 was Soyuz mission, a human spaceflight mission transporting personnel to the Russian space station Mir. Part of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, the mission launched from Baikonur Cosmodrome, atop a Soyuz-U2 carrier rocket, at 06:11:34 UTC on March 14, 1995...
carried expedition EO-18 to Mir. The crew consisted of Cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov
Vladimir Dezhurov
Vladimir Nikolayevich Dezhurov is a former cosmonaut who resides in Star City, Moscow. He is a veteran of two spaceflights, to the Mir and International Space Stations. During his career, Duzhurov also conducted nine spacewalks before his retirement on July 12, 2004.- Personal :Dezhurov was born...
and Gennady Strekalov
Gennady Strekalov
Gennadi Mikhailovich Strekalov was an Instructor-Test-Cosmonaut and Department Head at Russian aerospace firm RSC Energia. He has been decorated twice as Hero of the Soviet Union...
and NASA Astronaut Norman Thagard
Norman Thagard
Norman Earl Thagard is an American scientist and former NASA astronaut. He is the first American to ride to space on board a Russian vehicle, and can be considered the first American cosmonaut...
, who became the first American to fly into space aboard the Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz spacecraft
Soyuz , Union) is a series of spacecraft initially designed for the Soviet space programme by the Korolyov Design Bureau in the 1960s, and still in service today...
. During the course of their 115 day expedition, the Spektr
Spektr
Spektr was the fifth module of the Mir Space Station. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment containing atmospheric and surface research equipment...
science module (which served as living and working space for American astronauts) was launched aboard a Proton rocket
Proton rocket
Proton is an expendable launch system used for both commercial and Russian government space launches. The first Proton rocket was launched in 1965 and the launch system is still in use as of 2011, which makes it one of the most successful heavy boosters in the history of spaceflight...
and docked to Mir. Spektr carried more than 1500 pounds (680.4 kg) of research equipment from America and other nations. The expedition's crew returned to Earth aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis
Space Shuttle Atlantis
The Space Shuttle Atlantis is a retired Space Shuttle orbiter in the Space Shuttle fleet belonging to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration , the spaceflight and space exploration agency of the United States...
following the first Shuttle–Mir docking during mission STS-71
STS-71
STS-71 was the third mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, which carried out the first Space Shuttle docking to Mir, a Russian space station. The mission used Space Shuttle Atlantis, which lifted off from launch pad 39A on 27 June 1995 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida...
.
Apollo-Soyuz Test Project
-Backup crew:-Crew notes:Jack Swigert had originally been assigned as the command module pilot for the ASTP prime crew, but prior to the official announcement he was removed as punishment for his involvement in the Apollo 15 postage stamp scandal.-Soyuz crew:...
in 1975. Atlantis delivered Cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev
Anatoly Solovyev
Anatoly Yakovlevich Solovyev is a former Soviet pilot, cosmonaut, and Colonel. Solovyev holds the world record on the number of spacewalks performed , and accumulated time spent spacewalking .- Family :...
and Nikolai Budarin
Nikolai Budarin
Nikolai Mikhailovich Budarin is a Russian cosmonaut, a veteran of three extended space missions aboard the Mir Space Station and the International Space Station...
, who would form the expedition EO-19 crew, and retrieved Astronaut Norman Thagard and Cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Gennady Strekalov of the expedition EO-18 crew. Atlantis also carried out on-orbit joint US-Russian life sciences investigations aboard a Spacelab
Spacelab
Spacelab was a reusable laboratory used on certain spaceflights flown by the Space Shuttle. The laboratory consisted of multiple components, including a pressurized module, an unpressurized carrier and other related hardware housed in the Shuttle's cargo bay...
module and performed a logistical resupply of the station.
The final Shuttle flight of 1995, STS-74
STS-74
STS-74 was a Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station. It was the fourth mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, and it carried out the second docking of a space shuttle to Mir. Atlantis lifted off for the mission on 12 November 1995 from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39A,...
, began with the November 12 launch of Space Shuttle Atlantis, and delivered the Russian-built Docking Module
Mir Docking Module
The Stykovochnyy Otsek , GRAU index 316GK, otherwise known as the Mir docking module or SO, was the sixth module of the Russian space station Mir, launched in November 1995 aboard the...
to Mir, along with a new pair of solar arrays and other hardware upgrades for the station. The Docking Module was designed to provide more clearance for Shuttles in order to prevent any collisions with Mir's solar arrays during docking, a problem which had been overcome during STS-71
STS-71
STS-71 was the third mission of the US/Russian Shuttle-Mir Program, which carried out the first Space Shuttle docking to Mir, a Russian space station. The mission used Space Shuttle Atlantis, which lifted off from launch pad 39A on 27 June 1995 from Kennedy Space Center, Florida...
by relocating the station's Kristall
Kristall
The Kristall module was the fourth module and the third major addition to the Mir space station. As with previous modules, its configuration was based on the 77K module, and was originally named "Kvant 3". It was launched on May 31, 1990 on a Proton rocket...
module to a different location on the station. The module, attached to Kristalls docking port, prevented the need for this procedure on further missions. During the course of the flight, nearly 1000 pounds (453.6 kg) of water were transferred to Mir and experiment samples including blood, urine and saliva were moved to Atlantis for return to Earth.
Priroda (1996)
Continuous US presence aboard Mir started in 1996 with the March 22 launch of Atlantis on mission STS-76STS-76
STS-76 was NASA's 76th Space Shuttle mission, and the 16th mission for Atlantis. STS-76 launched on 22 March 1996 at 3:13 am EST from Kennedy Space Center launch pad 39B...
, when the Second Increment astronaut Shannon Lucid
Shannon Lucid
Shannon Matilda Wells Lucid is an American biochemist and a NASA astronaut. At one time, she held the record for the longest duration stay in space by an American, as well as by a woman...
was transferred to the station. STS-76 was the third docking mission to Mir, which also demonstrated logistics capabilities through deployment of a Spacehab
SPACEHAB
Astrotech Corporation , formerly Spacehab Inc., is an aerospace company headquartered in Austin, Texas which provides commercial space products and services to NASA, the U.S. Department of Defense, international space agencies, and global commercial customers...
module, and placed experiment packages aboard Mirs docking module, which marked the first spacewalk which occurred around docked vehicles. The spacewalks, carried out from Atlantis's crew cabin, provided valuable experience for astronauts in order to prepare for later assembly missions to the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
.
Lucid became the first American woman to live on station, and, following a six-week extension to her Increment due to issues with Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters
Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster
The Space Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters were the pair of large solid rockets used by the United States' NASA Space Shuttle during the first two minutes of powered flight. Together they provided about 83% of liftoff thrust for the Space Shuttle. They were located on either side of the rusty or...
, her 188-day mission set the US single spaceflight record. During Lucid's time aboard Mir, the Priroda
Priroda
The Priroda module was the seventh and final module of the Mir Space Station. Its primary purpose was to conduct Earth resource experiments through remote sensing and to develop and verify remote sensing methods...
module, with about 2200 pounds (997.9 kg) of US science hardware, was docked to Mir. Lucid made use of both Priroda and Spektr to carry out 28 different science experiments and as living quarters.
STS-79
STS-79 was a Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station. It was the first shuttle mission to dock with Mir once it was fully assembled.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Spacehab-Double Module **Orbiter Docking System...
, which launched on September 16. STS-79 was the first Shuttle mission to carry a double Spacehab module. More than 4000 pounds (1,814.4 kg) of supplies were transferred to Mir, including water generated by Atlantiss fuel cell
Fuel cell
A fuel cell is a device that converts the chemical energy from a fuel into electricity through a chemical reaction with oxygen or another oxidizing agent. Hydrogen is the most common fuel, but hydrocarbons such as natural gas and alcohols like methanol are sometimes used...
s, and experiments that included investigations into superconductors
Superconductivity
Superconductivity is a phenomenon of exactly zero electrical resistance occurring in certain materials below a characteristic temperature. It was discovered by Heike Kamerlingh Onnes on April 8, 1911 in Leiden. Like ferromagnetism and atomic spectral lines, superconductivity is a quantum...
, cartilage
Cartilage
Cartilage is a flexible connective tissue found in many areas in the bodies of humans and other animals, including the joints between bones, the rib cage, the ear, the nose, the elbow, the knee, the ankle, the bronchial tubes and the intervertebral discs...
development, and other biology studies. About 2000 pounds (907.2 kg) of experiment samples and equipment were also transferred back from Mir to Atlantis, making the total transfer the most extensive yet.
This, the fourth docking, also saw John Blaha transferring onto Mir to take his place as resident Increment astronaut. His stay on the station improved operations in several areas, including transfer procedures for a docked space shuttle, "hand-over" procedures for long duration American crew members and "Ham" amateur radio
Amateur radio
Amateur radio is the use of designated radio frequency spectrum for purposes of private recreation, non-commercial exchange of messages, wireless experimentation, self-training, and emergency communication...
communications.
Two spacewalks were carried out during his time aboard. Their aim was to remove electrical power
Electric power
Electric power is the rate at which electric energy is transferred by an electric circuit. The SI unit of power is the watt.-Circuits:Electric power, like mechanical power, is represented by the letter P in electrical equations...
connectors from a 12-year old solar power
Solar power
Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available...
array on the base block and reconnect the cables to the more efficient new solar power arrays. In all, Blaha spent four months with the Mir-22 Cosmonaut crew conducting material science, fluid science
Fluid mechanics
Fluid mechanics is the study of fluids and the forces on them. Fluid mechanics can be divided into fluid statics, the study of fluids at rest; fluid kinematics, the study of fluids in motion; and fluid dynamics, the study of the effect of forces on fluid motion...
, and life science research, before returning to Earth the next year aboard Atlantis on STS-81
STS-81
STS-81 was a January 1997 Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 92.2 min-Fifth Mir docking mission:...
.
Fire and collision (1997)
In 1997 STS-81STS-81
STS-81 was a January 1997 Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 51.6°*Period: 92.2 min-Fifth Mir docking mission:...
replaced Increment astronaut John Blaha with Jerry Linenger, after Blaha's 118-day stay aboard Mir. During this fifth shuttle docking, the crew of Atlantis moved supplies to the station and returned to Earth the first plants to complete a life cycle in space; a crop of wheat planted by Shannon Lucid. During five days of mated operations, the crews transferred nearly 6000 pounds (2,721.6 kg) of logistics to Mir, and transferred 2400 pounds (1,088.6 kg) of materials back to Atlantis (the most materials transferred between the two spacecraft to that date).
The STS-81 crew also tested the Shuttle Treadmill Vibration Isolation
Vibration isolation
Vibration isolation is the process of isolating an object, such as a piece of equipment, from the source of vibrations.-Passive isolation:Passive vibration isolation systems consist essentially of a mass, spring and damper ....
and Stabilization System (TVIS), designed for use in the Zvezda module of the International Space Station. The shuttle's small vernier jet thrusters were fired during the mated operations to gather engineering data for "reboosting" the ISS. After undocking, Atlantis performed a fly-around of Mir, leaving Linenger aboard the station.
Orlan space suits
thumb|right|270px|Cosmonaut [[Maksim Surayev]] next to two Orlan-MK modelsAn Orlan space suit |sea eagle]]) is a series of semi-rigid one-piece space suit models designed and built by NPP Zvezda. They have been used for spacewalks in the Russian space program, the successor to the Soviet space...
spacesuit alongside Russian cosmonaut Vasili Tsibliyev
Vasili Tsibliyev
Vasily Vasiliyevich Tsibliyev ; born on February 20, 1954) is a Russian cosmonaut.He was selected as a cosmonaut on March 26, 1987. Tsibliyev flew as Commander on Soyuz TM-17 from July 1, 1993 to January 14, 1994 and on Soyuz TM-25 from February 2, 1997 to August 14 of the same year. He retired on...
. All three crewmembers of expedition EO-23 performed a "fly-around" in the Soyuz spacecraft, first undocking from one docking port of the station, then manually flying to and redocking the capsule at a different location. This made Linenger the first American to undock from a space station aboard two different spacecraft (Space Shuttle and Soyuz).
Linenger and his Russian crewmates Vasili Tsibliyev and Aleksandr Lazutkin
Aleksandr Lazutkin
Aleksandr Ivanovich Lazutkin is a Russian cosmonaut.He was selected as cosmonaut on March 3, 1992. His first spaceflight was Soyuz TM-25, on which he was the flight engineer.He is married and has two children....
faced several difficulties during the mission. These included the most severe fire aboard an orbiting spacecraft (caused by a backup oxygen-generating device), failures of various on board systems, a near collision with a Progress
Progress spacecraft
The Progress is a Russian expendable freighter spacecraft. The spacecraft is an unmanned resupply spacecraft during its flight but upon docking with a space station, it allows astronauts inside, hence it is classified manned by the manufacturer. It was derived from the Soyuz spacecraft, and is...
resupply cargo ship during a long-distance manual docking system test and a total loss of station electrical power. The power failure also caused a loss of attitude control, which led to an uncontrolled "tumble" through space.
The next NASA astronaut to stay on Mir was Michael Foale
Michael Foale
Colin Michael Foale, CBE, PhD is a British-American astrophysicist with dual citizenship and a NASA astronaut. He is a veteran of six space shuttle missions and extended stays on both Mir and the International Space Station...
. Foale and Russian mission specialist Elena Kondakova boarded Mir from Atlantis on mission STS-84
STS-84
STS-84 was a manned spaceflight mission by Space Shuttle Atlantis to the Mir space station.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Orbiter landing with payload: **Spacehab-DM: ** Orbiter Docking System: **Cargo delivered to Mir:...
. The STS-84 crew transferred 249 items between the two spacecraft, along with water, experiment samples, supplies and hardware. One of the first items transferred to Mir was an Elektron oxygen-generating unit. Atlantis was stopped three times while backing away during the undocking sequence on May 21. The aim was to collect data from a European sensor device designed for future rendezvous of ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle
Automated Transfer Vehicle
The Automated Transfer Vehicle or ATV is an expendable, unmanned resupply spacecraft developed by the European Space Agency . ATVs are designed to supply the International Space Station with propellant, water, air, payload and experiments...
(ATV) with the International Space Station.
Spektr
Spektr was the fifth module of the Mir Space Station. The module was designed for remote observation of Earth's environment containing atmospheric and surface research equipment...
module during the second test of the Progress manual docking system, TORU. The module's outer shell was hit and holed, which caused the station to lose pressure. This was the first on-orbit depressurization in the history of spaceflight. The crew quickly cut cables leading to the module and closed Spektr's hatch in order to prevent the need to abandon the station in their Soyuz lifeboat. Their efforts stabilized the station's air pressure, whilst the pressure in Spektr, containing many of Foale's experiments and personal effects, dropped to a vacuum. Fortunately, food, water and other vital supplies were stored in other modules, and salvage and replanning effort by Foale and the science community minimized the loss of research data and capability.
In an effort to restore some of the power and systems lost following the isolation of Spektr and to attempt to locate the leak, Mir's new commander Anatoly Solovyev
Anatoly Solovyev
Anatoly Yakovlevich Solovyev is a former Soviet pilot, cosmonaut, and Colonel. Solovyev holds the world record on the number of spacewalks performed , and accumulated time spent spacewalking .- Family :...
and flight engineer
Flight engineer
Flight engineers work in three types of aircraft: fixed-wing , rotary wing , and space flight .As airplanes became even larger requiring more engines and complex systems to operate, the workload on the two pilots became excessive during certain critical parts of the flight regime, notably takeoffs...
Pavel Vinogradov carried out a salvage operation later in the mission. They entered the empty module during a so-called "IVA" spacewalk, inspecting the condition of hardware and running cables through a special hatch from Spektr's systems to the rest of the station. Following these first investigations, Foale and Solovyev conducted a 6-hour EVA on the surface of Spektr to inspect the damaged module.
Daniel Goldin
Daniel Saul Goldin served as the 9th and longest-tenured Administrator of NASA from April 1, 1992, to November 17, 2001. He was appointed by President George H. W. Bush and also served under President William Jefferson Clinton and George W...
decided to continue the program. The next flight to Mir, STS-86
STS-86
STS-86 was a Space Shuttle Atlantis mission to the Mir space station. This was the last Atlantis mission before it was taken out of service temporarily for maintenance and upgrades, including the glass cockpit.-Crew:-Crew notes:...
, brought Increment astronaut David Wolf to the station.
STS-86 performed the seventh Shuttle–Mir docking, the last of 1997. During Atlantis
Mir Docking Module
The Stykovochnyy Otsek , GRAU index 316GK, otherwise known as the Mir docking module or SO, was the sixth module of the Russian space station Mir, launched in November 1995 aboard the...
, for a future attempt by crew members to seal off the leak in Spektr
Phase One closes down (1998)
The final year of Phase One began with the flight of Space Shuttle EndeavourSpace Shuttle Endeavour
Space Shuttle Endeavour is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States. Endeavour was the fifth and final spaceworthy NASA space shuttle to be built, constructed as a replacement for Challenger...
on STS-89
STS-89
STS-89 was a space shuttle mission to the Mir space station flown by Space Shuttle Endeavour, and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida on 22 January 1998.-Crew:-Crew notes:...
. The mission delivered Cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov
Salizhan Sharipov
Salizhan Shakirovich Sharipov is a Kyrgyz cosmonaut. Sharipov is a co-author and investigator for the Advanced Diagnostic Ultrasound in Microgravity project. He has been to space twice and has conducted two spacewalks...
to Mir and replaced David Wolf with Andy Thomas
Andy Thomas
Andrew "Andy" Sydney Withiel Thomas is an Australian-born American aerospace engineer and a NASA astronaut. He became a U.S. citizen in December 1986, hoping to gain entry to NASA's astronaut program...
, following Wolf's 119 day Increment.
During his Increment, the last of the program, Thomas worked on 27 science investigations into areas of advanced technology, Earth science
Earth science
Earth science is an all-embracing term for the sciences related to the planet Earth. It is arguably a special case in planetary science, the Earth being the only known life-bearing planet. There are both reductionist and holistic approaches to Earth sciences...
s, human life sciences, microgravity research, and ISS risk mitigation. His stay on Mir, considered the smoothest of the entire Phase One program, featured weekly "Letters from the Outpost" from Thomas and passed two milestones for length of spaceflight—815 consecutive days in space by American astronauts since the launch of Shannon Lucid on the STS-76 mission in March 1996, and 907 days of Mir occupancy by American astronauts dating back to Norman Thagard's trip to Mir in March 1995.
Thomas returned to Earth on the final Shuttle–Mir mission, STS-91
STS-91
STS-91 was the final Space Shuttle mission to the Mir space station. It was flown by Space Shuttle Discovery, and launched from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, on 2 June 1998.-Crew:-Mission parameters:*Mass:...
. The mission closed out Phase One, with the EO-25 and STS-91 crews transferring water to Mir and exchanging almost 4700 pounds (2,131.9 kg) of cargo experiments and supplies between the two spacecraft. Long-term American experiments that had been on board Mir were also moved into Discovery. Hatches were closed for undocking at 9:07 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on June 8 and the spacecraft separated at 12:01 p.m. EDT that day.
Phases Two and Three: ISS (1998–2020)
With the landing of DiscoverySpace Shuttle Discovery
Space Shuttle Discovery is one of the retired orbiters of the Space Shuttle program of NASA, the space agency of the United States, and was operational from its maiden flight, STS-41-D on August 30, 1984, until its final landing during STS-133 on March 9, 2011...
on June 12, 1998, the Phase One program concluded. Techniques and equipment developed during the program assisted the development of Phase Two: initial assembly of the International Space Station (ISS). , the ISS consists of ten pressurized modules and a large truss structure, which makes it the largest spacecraft ever assembled. The arrival of the Destiny Laboratory Module in 2001 marked the end of Phase Two and the start of Phase Three, the final outfitting of the station, currently in progress.
The completed station will consist of five laboratories and be able to support six crew members. With over 1000 cubic metres (35,314.7 cu ft) of pressurized volume and a mass of 400000 kilograms (881,849 lb) the completed station will be almost twice the size of the combined Shuttle–Mir spacecraft. Phases Two and Three are intended to continue both international cooperation in space and zero-gravity scientific research, particularly regarding long-duration spaceflight. The results of this research will provide considerable information for long-duration expeditions to the Moon
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only known natural satellite,There are a number of near-Earth asteroids including 3753 Cruithne that are co-orbital with Earth: their orbits bring them close to Earth for periods of time but then alter in the long term . These are quasi-satellites and not true moons. For more...
and flights to Mars
Mars
Mars is the fourth planet from the Sun in the Solar System. The planet is named after the Roman god of war, Mars. It is often described as the "Red Planet", as the iron oxide prevalent on its surface gives it a reddish appearance...
.
Following the intentional deorbiting of Mir on March 23, 2001, the ISS became the only space station in orbit around Earth. Mirs legacy lives on in the station, bringing together five space agencies in the cause of exploration and allowing those space agencies to prepare for their next leap into space, to the Moon, Mars and beyond.
Controversy
Safety and scientific return
Criticism of the program was primarily concerned with the safety of the aging Mir, particularly following the fire aboard the station and collision with the Progress supply vessel in 1997.The fire, caused by the malfunction of a backup solid-fuel oxygen generator (SFOG), burned for, according to various sources, between 90 seconds and 14 minutes, and produced large amounts of toxic smoke that filled the station for around 45 minutes. This forced the crew to don respirators, but some of the respirator masks initially worn were broken. Fire extinguisher
Fire extinguisher
A fire extinguisher or extinguisher, flame entinguisher is an active fire protection device used to extinguish or control small fires, often in emergency situations...
s mounted on the walls of the modules were immovable. The fire occurred during a crew rotation, and as such there were six men aboard the station rather than the usual three. Access to one of the docked Soyuz lifeboats was blocked, which would have prevented escape by half of the crew. A similar incident had occurred on an earlier Mir expedition, although in that case the SFOG burned for only a few seconds.
The near-miss and collision incidents presented further safety issues. Both were caused by failure of the same piece of equipment, the TORU manual docking system, which was undergoing tests at the time. The tests were called in order to gauge the performance of long-distance docking in order to enable the cash-strapped Russians to remove the expensive Kurs
Kurs (docking system)
Kurs is a radio telemetry system used by the Soviet and later Russian space program.Kurs was developed by the Research Institute of Precision Instruments before 1985 and manufactured by the Kiev Radio Factory .- History :...
automatic docking system from the Progress ships.
The accidents also added to the increasingly vocal criticism of the aging station's reliability. Astronaut Blaine Hammond claimed that his safety concerns about Mir were ignored by NASA officials, and that records of safety meetings "disappeared from a locked vault". Mir was originally designed to fly for five years but eventually flew for three times that length of time. During Phase One and afterward, the station was showing her age—constant computer crashes, loss of power, uncontrolled tumbles through space and leaking pipes were an ever-present concern for crews. Various breakdowns of Mirs Elektron oxygen-generating system were also a concern. These breakdowns led crews to become increasingly reliant on the SFOG systems that caused the fire in 1997. SFOG systems continue to be a problem aboard the ISS.
Another issue of controversy was the scale of its actual scientific return, particularly following the loss of the Spektr science module. Astronauts, managers and various members of the press all complained that the benefits of the program were outweighed by the risks associated with it, especially considering the fact that most of the US science experiments had been contained within the holed module. As such, a large amount of American research was inaccessible, reducing the science that could be performed. The safety issues caused NASA to reconsider the future of the program at various times. The agency eventually decided to continue and came under fire from various areas of the press regarding that decision.
Attitudes
Attitudes of the Russian space program and NASA towards Phase One were also of concern to the astronauts involved. Because of Russia's financial issues, many workers at the TsUP felt that the mission hardware and continuation of Mir was more important than the lives of the cosmonauts aboard the station. As such the program was run very differently compared to American programs: cosmonauts had their days being planned for them to the minute, actions (such as docking) which would be performed manually by shuttle pilots were all carried out automatically, and cosmonauts had their pay docked if they made any errors during their flights. Americans learned aboard SkylabSkylab
Skylab was a space station launched and operated by NASA, the space agency of the United States. Skylab orbited the Earth from 1973 to 1979, and included a workshop, a solar observatory, and other systems. It was launched unmanned by a modified Saturn V rocket, with a mass of...
and earlier space missions that this level of control was not productive and had since made mission plans more flexible. The Russians, however, would not budge, and many felt that significant work time was lost because of this.
Following the two accidents in 1997, astronaut Jerry Linenger felt that the Russian authorities attempted a cover-up to downplay the significance of the incidents, fearing that the Americans would back out of the partnership. A large part of this "cover-up" was the seeming impression that the American astronauts were not in fact "partners" aboard the station, but were instead "guests". NASA staff did not find out for several hours about the fire and collision and found themselves kept out of decision-making processes. NASA became more involved when Russian mission controllers intended to place blame for the accident entirely on Vasily Tsibliyev. It was only after the application of significant pressure from NASA that this stance was changed.
At various times during the program, NASA managers and personnel found themselves limited in terms of resources and manpower, particularly as Phase Two geared up, and had a hard time getting anywhere with NASA administration. One particular area of contention was with crew assignments to missions. Many astronauts allege that the method of selection prevented the most skilled people from performing roles they were best-suited for.
Finances
Since the breakup of the Soviet Union a few years earlier, the Russian economyEconomy of Russia
The economy of Russia is the eleventh largest economy in the world by nominal value and the sixth largest by purchasing power parity . Russia has an abundance of natural gas, oil, coal, and precious metals...
had been slowly collapsing and the budget for space exploration was reduced by around 80%. Before and after Phase One, a great deal of Russia's space finances came from flights of astronauts from Europe and other countries, with one Japanese TV station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
paying $9.5 million to have one of their reporters, Toyohiro Akiyama
Toyohiro Akiyama
is a Japanese TV journalist best known for his flight to the Mir space station aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in 1990. Akiyama is the first person of Japanese descent to have flown in space. He was known as the "Space Journalist" in Japan....
, flown aboard Mir. By the start of Phase One, cosmonauts regularly found their missions extended to save money on launchers, the six-yearly flights of the Progress
Progress spacecraft
The Progress is a Russian expendable freighter spacecraft. The spacecraft is an unmanned resupply spacecraft during its flight but upon docking with a space station, it allows astronauts inside, hence it is classified manned by the manufacturer. It was derived from the Soyuz spacecraft, and is...
had been reduced to three, and there was a distinct possibility of Mir being sold for around $500 million.
Critics argued that the $325 million contract NASA had with Russia was the only thing keeping the Russian space program alive, and only the Space Shuttle was keeping Mir aloft. NASA also had to pay hefty fees for training manual
Training manual
A training manual is a book or booklet of instructions, designed to improve the quality of a performed task. Training manuals are widely used, including in business and the military.A training manual may be particularly useful as:...
s and equipment used by astronauts training at Star City
Star City, Russia
Star City is a common name of an area in Moscow Oblast, Russia, which has since the 1960s been home to the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center...
. Problems came to a head when ABC's
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
Nightline revealed that there was a distinct possibility of embezzlement of American finances by the Russian authorities in order to build a suite of new cosmonaut houses in Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
, or else that the building projects were being funded by the Russian Mafia
Russian Mafia
The Russian Mafia is a name applied to organized crime syndicates in Russia and Ukraine. The mafia in various countries take the name of the country, as for example the Ukrainian mafia....
. NASA administrator Goldin was invited onto Nightline to defend the homes but he refused to comment. NASA's office for external affairs was quoted as saying that "What Russia does with its own money is their business."
External links
- History of Shuttle–Mir (NASANASAThe National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
) - Diary of Linenger Increment (NASA)