Categories
STS-91: last stop at Mir
Space Shuttle Discovery becomes the last American shuttle to visit space station Mir during a ten-day mission launched on this date. The historic mission is marred slightly by a communications malfunction which makes live TV transmissions from orbit impossible. In addition to retrieving American science experiment packages from Mir, a cargo-bay-mounted experiment to detect dark matter is also conducted. Supplies are also off-loaded onto Mir. Aboard Discovery for her 24th flight are Commander Charles Precourt, Pilot Dominic Gorie, and mission specialists Wendy Lawrence, Franklin Chang-Diaz, Janet Kavandi and Valery Ryumin. Mir astronaut Andrew Thomas, the last American to visit the Russian station, returns to Earth aboard Discovery.
Russia launches Soyuz TM-28 on a mission to the Mir space station, with cosmonauts Gennady Padalka, Sergei Avdeyev and Yuri Baturin aboard. Padalka spends 198 days aboard Mir, conducting further repairs to the station damaged by a 1997 collision with a Progress cargo vehicle, while former politician Baturin remains aboard for 11 days before returning to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-27 with Mir’s previous crew. Avdeyev is aboard Mir for the long haul, spending just over a year in space and not returning to Earth until August 1999.
The first American to orbit Earth returns to orbit aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. During a ten-day mission with the SPACEHAB laboratory module installed in the cargo bay, the crew conducts medical experiments with Mercury astronaut John Glenn, comparing his results against the results of identical experiments performed with one of his crewmates, to determine the effect of weightlessness on older space travelers. At the age of 77, Glenn is the world’s oldest space traveler (and is still a sitting member of the U.S. Senate at the time of his flight). Discovery’s crew on her 25th flight is Commander Curtis Brown, Pilot Steven Lindsey, mission specialists Scott Parazynski, Stephen Robinson and Pedro Duque, and payload specialists Chiaki Mukai and John Glenn.
The orbital construction of the International Space Station formally begins with the launch, via a Russian Proton rocket, of the Zarya module. A direct descendant of the core module of the Mir space station, Zarya provides docking access, the station’s first set of solar power panels, and storage. The second component of the station is due to be launched shortly afterward via Space Shuttle.
Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off to begin the construction of the International Space Station. Endeavour conducts a rendezvous with the already-launched Zarya module and attached the Unity station module to it. The two modules’ external connections are completed during a spacewalk, and the station is powered up for the first time on December 7th. Endeavour’s 13th crew is Commander Robert Cabana, Pilot Frederick Sturckow, and mission specialists Nancy Currie, Jerry Ross, James Newman and Sergei Krikalev. Cabana and Krikalev are the first humans to enter the International Space Station, but since the fledgeling facility lacks long-term habitation facilities, it is left unmanned at the end of the 12 day mission.
Space Shuttle Endeavour joins the first two modules of the International Space Station together, having carried the Unity docking node into orbit in its cargo bay. With no living quarters or long-term life support facilities, the station is not yet ready for full-time occupancy; two further shuttle missions are required to prepare the station for its next major addition.
Russia launches Soyuz TM-29 to the Mir space station, carrying an international crew. Cosmonaut Viktor Afanasyev, French spationaut Jean-Pierre Haigneré, and Slovakian cosmonaut Ivan Bella are aboard. Afanasyev and Haigneré take up residence aboard Mir for 188 days, while Bella returns to Earth with Mir’s previous crew aboard Soyuz TM-28 after one week. When Afanasyev and Haigneré return to Earth in August 1999, they bring home cosmonaut Sergei Avdeyev, who by that point has served a full year in orbit aboard Mir. This is the last flight to Mir sponsored by the Russian government, which is now throwing its weight behind the International Space Station, and Mir is left unmanned when Soyuz TM-29 returns to Earth.
NASA launches Space Shuttle Discovery on the first of only three 1999 shuttle flights, a ten-day mission to continue preparing the International Space Station for full-time duty. 80 hours are spent inside the station, transferring supplies into the existing modules for future crews, and spacewalks are conducted to perform necessary tasks outside the station. Aboard Discovery for her 26th flight are Commander Kent Rominger, Pilot Rick Husband, and mission specialists Ellen Ochoa, Tammy Jernigan, Daniel Barry, Julie Payette and Valery Tokarev.
Pete Conrad, the Apollo 12 commander who was the third human to walk on the moon, dies at the age of 69 from injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident. Conrad went to the moon in November 1969, and flew two earlier Gemini missions, one of which was a new human endurance record at the time. Conrad later went on to set a new record for time spent by a human in space (28 days, unprecedented at the time) in 1973 as a member of the first Skylab crew. Conrad and fellow Skylab astronaut Joseph Kerwin performed an extended and very hazardous spacewalk to repair the station, which had been heavily damaged during launch a few weeks before its crew arrived.
A day short of exactly 38 years since the capsule 
Space Shuttle Columbia lifts off on a five-day mission to deploy the Chanda X-Ray Observatory satellite. The first American space mission with a woman in the commander’s seat, this flight also includes some ultraviolet astronomy experiments, and sees the first test of HDTV equipment in space. Aboard Columbia for her 26th mission are Commander Eileen Collins, Pilot Jeff Ashby, and mission specialists Steven Hawley, Catherine Coleman and Michel Tognini. After landing, Columbia is removed from the orbiter rotation with the intention of permanent retirement, though a demanding launch schedule convinces NASA to upgrade Columbia and return the flagship of the shuttle fleet to service in 2002.
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on an eight-day mission to retrieve, service and redeploy the Hubble Space Telescope. This routine planned upgrade for Hubble sees the shuttle crew swapping out the $2,000,000,000 telescope’s CPU, installing a new one with 20 times the processing power of the original, during an eight-hour spacewalk; another eight-hour spacewalk sees crewmembers removing an analog data recorder to replace it with a digital device with greater capacity. Christmas 1999 is spent placing Hubble back into its orbit. Aboard Discovery for her 27th flight are Commander Curtis Brown, Pilot Scott Kelly, and mission specialists Steven Smith, Michael Foale, John Grunsfield, Claude Nicollier and Jean-Francois Clervoy.
Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off on the 97th shuttle flight, and the only one on the 2000 launch schedule not devoted to construction of the International Space Station. Instead, Endeavour carries out an 11-day radar topography mission, though the 200-foot radar mast deployed from the cargo bay changes Endeavour’s center of mass and necessitates an unusually high usage of the orbiter’s fuel to keep the vehicle and payload properly oriented. Endeavour’s 14th crew is Commander Kevin Kregel, Pilot Dominic Gorie, and mission specialists Janet Kavandi, Janice Voss, Mamoru Mohri and Gerhard Thiele.
With help from the Russian space program, private corporation MirCorp launches Soyuz TM-30, the final spacecraft to visit the aging Mir space station. Sergei Zalyotin and veteran cosmonaut Aleksandr Kaleri become Mir’s first inhabitants in over eight months, and their mission is to begin refurbishing and repairing the 14-year-old station for what is hoped to be a series of commercial launches, including space tourism and even possibly a reality TV show set aboard Mir. What the two cosmonauts find, however, is that more work will be required than MirCorp can provide; after 72 days, the crew of Soyuz TM-30 returns to Earth, the money having run out before another crew can be sent. Mir will tumble out of its orbit and re-enter Earth’s atmosphere in 2001.
Carrying over 3,000 pounds of supplies for future station crews, Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on a ten-day mission to the International Space Station. The supplies include exercise equipment and general housekeeping gear; Atlantis boosts the still-under-construction vacant station’s orbit by 27 miles. Aboard Atlantis for her 20th flight are Commander James Halsell, Pilot Scott “Doc” Horowitz, and mission specialists Mary Ellen Weber, Jeff Williams, James Voss, Susan Helms and Yury Usachev.
The third major piece of the International Space Station, the Mir-derived Zvezda service module, is launched from Russia. Once in orbit, automatic systems guide Zvezda toward rendezvous and docking with the combined Zarya and Unity modules that currently comprise the station. Zvezda adds life support systems and living quarters, as well as additional power-generating solar panels, to the station, completing the most basic building blocks necessary for ongoing occupation.
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 99th shuttle mission, a 12-day visit to the still-unoccupied International Space Station. Spacewalks and work in the station’s pressurized compartments make the final connections between the Russian-launched Zvezda service module and the rest of the station, and over three tons of supplies – most flown aboard Atlantis, but some contained in an unmanned Progress supply ship which has already automatically docked to the station – are transferred to the station. Atlantis’ 21st crew is Commander Terrence Wilcutt, Pilot Scott Altman, and mission specialists Daniel Burbank, Edward Lu, Richard Mastracchio, Yuri Malenchenko and Boris Morokov. In 2003, Lu and Malenchenko will return as the station’s seventh full-time residents.
On the 100th flight of the American shuttle program, Space Shuttle Discovery pays a 13-day visit to the International Space Station, making final preparations before the station’s first crew arrives. A new shuttle docking port is added, and the first section of external truss is bolted onto the station, the beginning of a structure that will support the larger solar power panels to be installed during later construction missions. Discovery’s 28th crew is Commander Brian Duffy, Pilot Pam Melroy, and mission specialists Koichi Wakata, Leroy Chiao, Peter Wisoff, Michael Lopez-Alegria and William McArthur.
The crew of Soyuz TM-31 spends Halloween in orbit, lifting off from Russia’s Baikonur Cosmodrome on the first long-duration stay aboard the International Space Station. Cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev and American astronaut William Shepherd are the first crew to take up residence on the ISS, staying aboard for 136 days. During that stay, they will be visited by the crews of three space shuttles (Endeavour, Atlantis and Discovery), all bringing new hardware modules to the station. This crew returns to Earth aboard Discovery, leaving the Soyuz TM-31 spacecraft as a return vehicle for the next ISS crew.
Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off on an 11-day mission to add a major solar power array to the International Space Station. For the first time, a crew has already arrived via Soyuz and taken up residence on the station prior to the shuttle’s arrival. Another external truss is added, and the first large solar power array – 240 feet long – is added to it, more than quintupling the power available aboard the station. Aboard Endeavour for her 15th flight are Commander Brent Jett, Pilot Michael Bloomfield, and mission specialists Joseph Tanner, Marc Garneau and Carlos Noriega.
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 102nd shuttle flight, a mission to install the American-made Destiny laboratory module on the International Space Station. Once attached to its connection point on the Unity module, Destiny is powered up and pressurized, adding more space for scientific experiments to the station. Aboard Atlantis for her 22nd flight are Commander Kenneth Cockrell, Pilot Mark Polansky, and mission specialists Robert Curbeam, Thomas Jones and Marsha Ivins.
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the 103rd shuttle flight, a mission to exchange crewmembers aboard the International Space Station. In the cargo bay is a logistics module containing consumables, supplies, and equipment racks to be installed in the Destiny laboratory module. Aboard Discovery for her 29th flight are Commander James Wetherbee, Pilot James Kelly, mission specialists Andrew Thomas and Paul Richards, and ISS Expedition 2 crewmembers James Voss, Susan Helms and Yuriy Usachev. The Expedition 1 crewmembers (William Shepherd, Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Krikalev) return to Earth aboard the shuttle.
Despite attempts in recent years to keep the station in orbit for commercial purposes, the Russian space station Mir – originally launched in 1986 by the Soviet Union – is brought out of orbit with a deorbit burn fired by the engines of an attached unmanned Progress cargo vehicle. The largest space vehicle ever to plunge through Earth’s atmosphere, Mir breaks up over the south Pacific, where any surviving debris is expected to sink harmlessly into the ocean east of New Zealand. The fifteen-year-old station, having been designed with a service life of five years in mind, had been the site of the first joint Russian-American manned space operations since 1975, and led directly to both the contractual agreements and design of the International Space Station.
Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off on the 104th shuttle flight, a 12-day mission to resupply and continue construction of the International Space Station. The primary addition to the station is the Canadian-built remote manipulator arm, derived from the design that has been flown throughout the Space Shuttle program, to be affixed to the station itself. Aboard Endeavour for her 16th flight are Commander Kent Rominger, Pilot Jeff Ashby, and mission specialists Chris Hadfield, Scott Parazynski, John Phillips, Umberto Guidoni and Yuri Lonchakov.
Russia launches Soyuz TM-32 to the International Space Station. Aboard the Soyuz for an eight-day stay on the ISS are cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev and Yuri Baturin, and multi-millionaire space tourist Dennis Tito, the first space traveler to buy his own seat aboard a spacecraft. NASA is less than thrilled with the presence of a “tourist” in space, and refuses to allow Tito to train in advance for activities in the American-built segments of the station. This crew returns to Earth aboard Soyuz TM-31.
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 105th shuttle flight, a 13-day flight to resupply and install new hardware on the International Space Station. The station gains a new airlock and an equipment pallet – formerly part of the Spacelab module – which is attached to the station’s exterior. Aboard Atlantis for her 24th flight are Commander Steven Lindsey, Pilot Charles Hobaugh, and mission specialists Michael Gernhardt, James Reilly and Janet Kavandi.
Space Shuttle Discovery lifts off on the 106th shuttle flight, a mission to exchange crews aboard the International Space Station. The shuttle’s cargo bay carries a logistics module containing more equipment for the ISS laboratory module, as well as storage racks to be installed elsewhere in the station. Aboard Discovery for her 30th flight are Commander Scott Horowitz, Pilot Frederick Sturckow, missions specialists Daniel Barry and Patrick Forrester, and ISS Expedition 3 crewmembers Frank Culbertson, Mikhail Turin and Vladimir Dezhurov, who remain aboard the station. Returning to Earth via Discovery are ISS Expedition 2 crewmembers Yury Usachev, James Voss and Susan Helms.
Russia launches the Pirs docking module into orbit, where automatic systems allow it to rendezvous with the International Space Station for docking to the existing Zvezda module. The Pirs module adds a docking port for Soyuz capsules, as well as an airlock for future spacewalks.
Russia launches Soyuz TM-33 on a mission to the International Space Station. Aboard the Soyuz are cosmonauts Viktor Afanasyev and Konstantin Kozeyev, and French spationaut Claudie Haigneré, making her second visit to a space station (she has previously visited Russia’s Mir space station). This is a short-term visiting crew, spending only eight days aboard Mir and then returning aboard the older Soyuz TM-32 spacecraft, leaving TM-33 as the return vehicle for the next visiting crew.
Space Shuttle Endeavour lifts off on the 107th shuttle flight, a resupply and crew rotation mission to the International Space Station. Aboard Endeavour for her 17th flight are Commander Dominic Gorie, Pilot Mark Kelly, mission specialists Linda Godwin and Daniel Tani, and ISS Expedition 4 crewmembers Yuri Onufrienko, Carl Walz and Daniel Bursch. Returning to Earth via Endeavour are ISS Expedition 3 crewmembers Frank Culbertson, Mikhail Turin and Vladimir Dezhurov.