Shuttle–Mir program
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.The seven astronauts who took part in the Increments, Norman Thagard, 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.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 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.Atlantis also carried out on-orbit joint US-Russian life sciences investigations aboard a Spacelab module and performed a logistical resupply of the station.During the course of the flight, nearly 1,000 pounds (450 kg) of water were transferred to Mir and experiment samples including blood, urine and saliva were moved to Atlantis for return to Earth.[20][28][29][30] Continuous US presence aboard Mir started in 1996 with the March 22 launch of Atlantis on mission STS-76, when the Second Increment astronaut Shannon Lucid was transferred to the station.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.[31] 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.[35] 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.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.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.[20][36] 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 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.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.[9][20] 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.During the five-hour spacewalk, the pair affixed a 121-pound (55 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 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.The mission closed out Phase One, with the EO-25 and STS-91 crews transferring water to Mir and exchanging almost 4,700 pounds (2,100 kg) of cargo experiments and supplies between the two spacecraft.[43] In 2015, a reconfiguration of the American segment was completed to allow its docking ports to accommodate NASA-sponsored commercial crew vehicles, that were expected to start visiting the ISS in 2018.With over 332 cubic metres (11,700 cu ft) of habitable volume and a mass of 400,000 kilograms (880,000 lb) the completed station is almost twice the size of the combined Shuttle–Mir spacecraft.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.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.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.[9][57] 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.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.[9] 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.
RussiaUnited StatesSTS-60STS-91Kennedy Space CenterBaikonurSpace ShuttleUnited States space programU.S. Space ForceMercuryGeminiApolloSkylabShuttle–MirInternational Space StationCommercial CrewConstellationArtemisLunar GatewayExplorersLarge StrategicLunar OrbiterLunar PrecursorMarinerMars ExplorationNew MillenniumPioneerPlanetary MissionsDiscoveryNew FrontiersPlanetary ObserverRangerSurveyorVanguardVikingVoyagerNASA Astronaut CorpsEastern RangeCape Canaveral Space Force StationWallops Flight FacilityMid-Atlantic Regional SpaceportPacific Spaceport Complex – AlaskaWestern RangeVandenberg Space Force BaseAntaresAtlas VElectronFalcon 9Falcon HeavyLauncherOneMinotaurNew GlennNew ShepardPegasusSpace Launch SystemStarshipVulcan CentaurUnited States Space ForceNational Reconnaissance OfficeUnited States Space CommandDepartment of Energy national laboratoriesFederal Aviation AdministrationOffice of Commercial Space TransportationNational Oceanic and Atmospheric AdministrationNational Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information ServiceOffice of Space CommerceSpace Weather Prediction CenterDepartment of State Office of Space AffairsOffice of Science and Technology PolicyBall AerospaceBigelow AerospaceBlue OriginBoeingFirefly AerospaceLockheed MartinRaytheonRocket LabNorthrop GrummanSierra Nevada CorporationSpaceXUnited Launch AllianceVirgin GalacticVirgin OrbitSoviet space programSoviet crewed lunar programsLuna programHuman spaceflight programsVostokVoskhodSalyutApollo–SoyuzSpiralEnergiaSpace probesSputnik programKosmosGLONASSMolniyaMeteorZond programLunokhod programMars programPhobos programMarsnik programAstron (spacecraft)Orion 1 and Orion 2 Space ObservatoriesRELIKT-1VeneraVega programExpendable launch vehiclesKosmos-3MMolniya-MProtonPolyotSoyuz/VostokSputnikTsyklonKonstantin TsiolkovskyFriedrich ZanderMstislav KeldyshSergei KorolevYuri GagarinAlexander KemurdzhianValentina TereshkovaAlexei LeonovKonstantin Feoktistov