Launched February 1986
The United States, Russia, Japan, Canada, and fourteen member countries of the European Space Agency (ESA) are hard at work on the International Space Station (ISS), an Earth-orbiting space research facility scheduled to be completed in mid-2002 and operated by a full-time international crew. Phase I of the project is known as the Mir/Shuttle rendezvous program, in which the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is launching eleven space shuttle flights over a four-year period, most docking with the Russian space station Mir. During docking, new crew members—including American astronauts—come aboard the station for stays that usually last four months, while veteran crew members return to Earth. On board Mir, its two or three resident astronauts and cosmonauts (Russian astronauts) perform scientific experiments and research, along with daily tasks and routine space station maintenance. In the process, the American and Russian crew members acquire valuable knowledge about living and working together in space—good training for life on the International Space Station.
Mir is a collection of modules put together like building blocks. The central Core Module provides basic services, such as living quarters, life support, and power. The Russians have added three expansion modules (launched by rockets) at separate times, each modernizing and increasing Mir’s capabilities. The Kvant Module, for instance, carries powerful telescopes that have allowed the crew to conduct special Earth and space observations. The Kristall Module added a docking mechanism able to receive heavy (up to 100-ton) spacecraft. Beginning in 1995, the United States added three modules of its own, carrying additional scientific equipment. For example, its Priroda Module brought a bioreactor that American astronaut John Blaha used to study the effects of microgravity on the growth of cartilage cells. Now complete with seven modules, Mir has a mass of 100 tons. This modular method of station assembly will be used when building the ISS, and much valuable information has been learned about the process on Mir.
What is it like to call Mir home? Even though there is no gravity in the space station, the work and living areas in the Core Module are made to look like they have floors, ceilings, and walls. The “floors” have carpeting and the “ceilings” have fluorescent lamps. Equipment is also arranged in a top-to-bottom way, because the crew prefers this “normal” arrangement of things. The living section is painted in soft pastel colors, to make it feel more like a home. It contains an eating area with a table, cooking equipment, and trash storage. Each cabin has a porthole, hinged chairs, and a sleeping bag. There is a shared personal hygiene area with a toilet, sink, and shower. In the event of visitors, Mir can accommodate six people for up to one month. Temperatures range from 70 to 86 degrees Fahrenheit in different parts of the space station and the humidity is around 70 percent. The sun shines every twenty-five to forty-five minutes, each time Mir orbits the globe.
Food, clothes, and equipment are received every six weeks or so, on a resupply vehicle that hooks up to one of Mir’s six docking ports. According to American astronaut Shannon Lucid (who broke the U.S. spaceflight duration record on Mir at six months and also became the world’s female spaceflight record holder), the first few days after the supply ship comes are an exciting time. Crew members read mail sent by friends and family members, who may include little gifts like books and candy. And the space dwellers eat their fill of fresh fruits and vegetables, a supply that sadly dwindles as the weeks go by.
![Russian commander Yuri Onufrienko [bottom left], astronauts Shannon Lucid [bottom right]. Linda Godwin [top left]. and Atlantis commander Kevin Chilton in a televised image from the space station <I>Mir</I>.](http://images.bookrags.com/images/ued/ued_05_00020_mir_space_station_3.jpg)
NASA astronauts receive special training before living aboard Mir. They must first undergo cosmonaut certification training in Star City, Russia. They also learn to speak Russian so that they can live and work easily with their fellow space dwellers. In addition, they are trained to perform the scientific experiments assigned to them during their Mir stays. Many of the studies involve weightlessness: its effect on the biological processes of plants, animals, and humans (especially over long periods of time), and on a variety of space operations. American astronaut Michael Foale, for instance, reported that the turnip seeds he planted in the space station’s greenhouse seemed to be developing more slowly than they would on Earth, possibly due to a lack of gravity. Other research activities include testing new space technologies; Earth observation—studying its atmosphere, oceans, and land surface; and examinations of the universe’s galaxies, quasars, and neutron stars using Mir’s special telescopes. The crew follows a simple, single-shift schedule and works five days a week.
U.S. astronauts aboard Mir are in constant contact with support teams of science and engineering specialists from Houston’s Johnson Space Center who have traveled to the Russian Mission Control Center in Moscow. These experts monitor the progress of experiments, solve technical and equipment problems, and are available to answer questions the astronauts might have. They conduct ten-minute communication sessions with Mir throughout the day, and are also in frequent contact with Mission Control back in Houston. Participants see this support system as a model of what will be needed to run the International Space Station.
Norman Thagard was the first U.S. astronaut to stay aboard Mir, arriving on a Russian launch vehicle (this ride was also an American first) on March 14, 1995. Subsequent astronaut residents have traveled to the space station by way of the U.S. Atlantis space shuttle. These residents include Lucid, Blaha, Foale, and Jerry Linenger—Wendy Lawrence and David Wolf are scheduled for future stays. The final Mir/Shuttle rendezvous will take place in May of 1998. By that time construction of the International Space Station will be underway.
How safe is Mir
Since February 1997 the eleven-year old Russian space station, which was originally designed to last five years, has been plagued by serious problems, including a flash fire, leaking antifreeze fumes, broken oxygen generators, and difficulties with the carbon dioxide removal system. The latest in Mir’s disasters, which NASA describes as “very serious,” is a collision that took place on June 25 between an unmanned cargo ship and the space station. During a practice docking, the remote-controlled cargo vessel veered off course and crashed into Spektr, Mir’s laboratory module. A small gash was made in Spektr’s thin aluminum hull, but Mir crew members—cosmonauts Vasily Tsibilyev and Alexander Lazutkin and U.S. astronaut Michael Foale—were quickly able to seal off the depressurizing module from the rest of the station before too much air escaped. (A fully depressurized Mir could fall out of orbit.)
Most of the science experiments aboard Spektr were destroyed by the collision when the module lost air pressure. In addition, Spektr’s exterior solar arrays—panels connected to Mir’s batteries that supply the space station with nearly half of its power—were damaged. The men have since worked in darkness, much of their equipment turned off to save energy. Their life-support systems may become threatened if power is not restored soon. (Mir is equipped with an escape spacecraft, the “lifeboat” Soyuz.)
In Star City, the cosmonaut training center outside of Moscow, Russian and U.S. space experts have been trying to figure out ways for Mir’s crew members to repair the damaged solar arrays. The scientists have been working on an underwater model of the spacecraft in order to simulate the effects of weightlessness. The cosmonauts will be required to wear heavy spacesuits and enter the deadly vacuum inside Spektr to reconnect power cables, with Mir’s hatch sealed behind them. The main problem is the bulkiness of the space gloves the men must wear. The electrical connections are very close together, and will be difficult to work on through the gloves. But the repair was eventually simulated on Earth, and Russian and U.S. support teams are optimistic that the same process will succeed in space. (Spectr’s gash, however, might take months to fix.)
Mir’s crew has since been practicing emergency repair procedures. On July 5 Russia launched a spacecraft filled with repair equipment and fuel, scheduled to rendezvous with the space station. The fate of future Russian/U.S. space projects may well depend on the success of the restoration mission.
Gordon, Michael R. “Russia Launches a Cargo Craft to Save Mir Space Station.” The New York Times. July 6, 1997: 12.
ISS Phase I-Space Station Mir. [Online] Available http://www.osf.hq.nasa.gov/mirold/Welcome.html, December 5, 1996.
“Luck Sent Astronaut to Space Station.” The New York Times. July 6, 1997: 12.
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