The program Mir - Shuttle and Mir - NASA

 

The program Mir – Space SHUTTLE and Mir - NASA

 

The program Mir – Space SHUTTLE and Mir - NASA are joint space programs of Russia and the United States under which Russian cosmonauts and cargos were delivered on orbit by Space SHUTTLE while the U.S. astronauts carried out expeditions to Mir station.

The purpose of the program was to strengthen cooperation between NASA and RSA and to share Russian experience of long-term flights with the United States. The programs were considered to be preparation for a joint project on the International Space Station development.

In July 1992, RSC and NASA agreed to hold the first in the history space shuttle docking with Mir. The first launch under the program Mir – Space SHUTTLE and Mir - NASA was performed in 1995. By the completion of the program in 1998 there were carried out 11 launches of Space SHUTTLES and a joint launch of the Soyuz TM-21. U.S. astronauts carried out seven expeditions and spent more than 1,000 days in space. Under the program seven short-term visiting expeditions were carried out by Atlantis space SHUTTLE and one by Endeavour space SHUTTLE. During these expeditions 34 astronauts visited the station.

Under the program three modules were docked:

Docking module - for the U.S. Space SHUTTLE docking to the station.

Spectrum - for experiments on the station.

Priroda - for the Earth research