Valery Polyakov, record-setting cosmonaut, dies
The cosmonaut who still holds the record for the longest single stay in space, Dr. Valery Polyakov, dies at the age of 80. Born in 1942, Polyakov joined the cosmonaut corps in 1972, and then had to wait sixteen years for his first flight, aboard Soyuz TM-6 to the Mir space station in 1988, where he stayed for 240 days. In January 1994 he returned to Mir aboard the Soyuz TM-18 mission, and remained in orbit for a continuous 437 day stay, still the longest continuous spaceflight undertaken by a human being at the time of his death. He returned to Earth in March 1995 and retired from the active cosmonaut rotation a few months later, remaining with the post-Soviet Russian space program as an advisor in the area of the health effects of long-term spaceflight, as well as having a hand in selecting future cosmonauts. He was awarded both the Hero of the Soviet Union and the Hero of the Russian Federation over the course of his career. Though fellow cosmonaut Sergei Adveyev holds the record for the most time in space, that time was accumulated over the course of three missions; as of 2022, Polyakov’s single-flight record remains unbroken.
Mir death experience
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.
Soyuz TM-30: Mir’s final crew
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.
Soyuz TM-29: last call for Mir
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.
Soyuz TM-28
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.
Soyuz TM-27
Russia launches the Soyuz TM-27 spacecraft on a mission to the Mir space station. Aboard are cosmonauts Talgat Musabayev and Nikolai Budarin; French spationaut Léopold Eyharts joins them for a 20-day before he returns to Earth with Mir’s previous crew. Musabayev and Budarin remain in orbit on Mir for 207 days, returning to Earth in August 1998 with cosmonaut Yuri Baturin. During their stay, further repairs were conducted to Mir’s solar power panels, which were damaged in a 1997 collision with a Progress unmanned cargo vehicle.
STS-89: eighth Shuttle-Mir docking
Space Shuttle Endeavour is launched on a nine-day mission to dock with the Russian Mir space station. Routine resupply activities are carried out, along with crew rotations. Endeavour’s crew for her 12th flight consists of Commander Terrence Wilcutt, Pilot Joe Edwards, Payload Commander Bonnie Dunbar, and mission specialists Michael Anderson, James Reilly, Salizhan Sharipov and Andrew Thomas. Thomas remains on Mir, while David Wolf returns to Earth aboard Endeavour.
STS-86: seventh Shuttle-Mir docking
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on an 11-day mission to dock with the Mir space station. In addition to routine supplies, replacement parts are brought to Mir to swap out with equipment damaged during the various incidents and accidents endured by Mir Expedition 23. The first-ever joint American/Russian spacewalk is conducted to undertake some of the repair activity and to try to find the location of the Spektr module hull breach. Aboard Atlantis for her 19th flight are Commander James Wetherbee, Pilot Michael Bloomfield, and mission specialists Vladimar Titov, Scott Parazynski, Jean-Loup Chretien, Wendy Lawrence and David Wolf. Wolf remains on Mir to join the Expedition 24 crew, while Mir crewmember Michael Foale returns to Earth aboard Atlantis, having served 145 unusually eventful days in space.
Soyuz TM-26
Russia launches Soyuz TM-26 on a mission to the Mir space station, which suffered numerous major malfunctions and damage during its previous crew’s stay. Aboard the Soyuz are specially selected cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Pavel Vinogradov, who have trained on the ground to inspect and repair the damage to the station, though they are unable to find the hull damage to the now-abandoned Spektr module which threatened to cause total decompression of the station. They do manage to restore most of Mir’s solar power generating capability during their 197-day stay, returning to Earth in February 1998 with French spationaut Léopold Eyharts.
“Decompression on station!”
During an attempt to manually redock a Progress unmanned supply capsule via remote control from space station Mir, Mir Commander Vasily Tsibliev misjudges Progress’ speed and distance, and the vehicle collides with the station’s Spektr module, breaching that module’s outer skin and allowing decompression to begin. As the hatch to that compartment is sealed off to save the rest of the station (and the crew’s lives), Mir begins tumbling in its orbit, losing power (and all contact with Earth) as its solar panels lose orientation to the sun. With only fleeting opportunities to contact ground controllers, the station’s crew of three has to use the thrusters of the Soyuz vehicle docked at Mir to realign the station and begin receiving solar power again, a process which takes 30 hours; they are unable to use the station’s rest room facility for over 48 hours due to the power loss. The Spektr module is never repaired and it remains sealed off for the remainder of Mir’s time in orbit; makeshift rewiring ensures that the solar panels not damaged in the collision return to service. Most of astronaut Michael Foale’s personal items and experiment data, stored in Spektr, are lost.
STS-84: sixth Shuttle-Mir docking
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 84th shuttle mission, a ten-day flight with a visit to the Mir space station. Among the supplies hauled to Mir by Atlantis is a new oxygen generator to replace one damaged by a fire aboard the station in February. The crew for Atlantis’ 18th flight is Commander Charles Precourt, Pilot Eileen Collins, mission specialists Michael Foale, Carlos Noriega, Edward Lu, Jean-Francois Clervoy and cosmonaut Elena Kondakova. Foale remains to take up residence on Mir, while American astronaut Jerry Linenger leaves the station to return with the shuttle crew, having spent 132 days in space.
A near-Mir-miss
Crew members of space station Mir and Russian ground controllers practice manual remote control of an unmanned Progress supply vehicle near the station. Where most previous Progress spacecraft have automatically docked using the KURS radar system, Russia is now seeking alternatives, as the Ukraine-made KURS hardware is proving too expensive to keep buying for non-reusable vehicles. During Mir Commander Vasily Tsibliev’s attempt to redock Progress M33, the remote control signal is interrupted, leaving the ten-ton Progress barreling toward the station. Fortunately, it narrowly misses Mir, though the remote control issue will resurface more dramatically with the next Progress craft to visit the space station.
Mir: Fire on high
Fire breaks out aboard the Russian space station Mir, forcing the crew to break out face masks and goggles which they must keep on even after the fire is put out. The culprit is determined to be an oxygen generator, which is damaged beyond repair; fortunately, American crewmember Jerry Linenger is a medical doctor and determines that he and his crewmates are none the worse for wear. A new oxygen generator will arrive on the next Space Shuttle mission to Mir later in the year.
Soyuz TM-25
Russian cosmonauts Vasili Tsibliyev and Aleksandr Lazutkin lift off aboard Soyuz TM-25 for an eventful mission aboard Russian space station Mir. Tagging along is German space traveler Reinhold Ewald, who will remain in space for 19 days before returning to Earth with Mir’s previous crew aboard Soyuz TM-24; Tsibliyev and Lazutkin will later be joined by American shuttle astronaut Jerry Linenger. Their 184-day stay is marred by numerous emergencies aboard the station, ranging from a fire in the station’s cramped quarters to a collision with an unmanned Progress cargo spacecraft, which Russian ground controllers are initially eager to keep quiet from the rest of the world.
STS-79: fourth Shuttle-Mir mission
After multiple delays, including the entire launch stack having to be rolled back into the safety of the Vehicle Assembly Building to protect it from two back-to-back hurricanes, Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the fourth mission to dock with the Russian Mir space station. Supplies are transferred to Mir, and numerous completed science experiments from Mir are loaded into the shuttle. Atlantis is flown by Commander William Readdy, Pilot Terrence Wilcutt, and mission specialists Thomas Akers, John Blaha, Jay Apt and Carl Walz. Blaha remains on Mir, taking the place of American astronaut Shannon Lucid, who has just set a new American space endurance record of 188 days in orbit; Lucid returns to Earth with the Atlantis crew.
Soyuz TM-24
Soyuz TM-24 is launched from Russia, on a mission to dock with the Mir space station. Aboard are cosmonauts Valery Korzun and Aleksandr Kaleri, who stay aboard Mir for 196 days, and visiting French spationaut Claudie André-Deshays, the first French woman in space, who stays aboard Mir for 16 days before returning to Earth with the station’s previous crew aboard Soyuz TM-23. Korzun and Kaleri will return to Earth in March 1997.
STS-76: third Shuttle-Mir docking
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on the 76th shuttle mission, a flight to dock with the Russian space station Mir. Supplies are delivered to Mir by the Atlantis crew, and astronaut Shannon Lucid remains aboard Mir to join its Expedition 21 crew. Atlantis also carries the SPACEHAB module, where both the shuttle and station crews conduct joint scientific experiments. Aboard Atlantis for her 16th flight are Commander Kevin Chilton, Pilot Richard Searfoss, and mission specialists Shannon Lucid, Linda Godwin, Michael Clifford and Ronald Sega.
Soyuz TM-23
Russia launches the Soyuz TM-23 mission to the Mir space station. The crew, cosmonauts Yuri Onufrienko and Yury Usachov, remain aboard Mir for 193 days, returning to Earth in September 1996 with French spationaut Claudie André-Deshays.
STS-74: Atlantis returns to Mir
NASA launches Space Shuttle Atlantis on the 73rd shuttle flight, an eight-day mission to dock with Russian space station Mir. Due to the docking difficulties of the first flight – which required Mir crew members to move one of their station’s modules out of the shuttle’s way temporarily – Atlantis carries a Russian-made docking adapter which adds a tunnel to one of Mir’s docking ports, allowing the shuttle to join up with the station without further module relocation. Atlantis carries Commander Kenneth Cameron, Pilot James Halsell, and mission specialists Jerry Ross, William McArthur and Chris Hadfield to visit Mir; there is no crew exchange on this flight.
Soyuz TM-22
Russia launches the Soyuz TM-22 mission to space station Mir, carrying cosmonauts Yuri Gidzenko and Sergei Avdeyev from Russia, and Thomas Reiter from Germany. The three space travelers settle in for a 179-day stay aboard Mir, from which they will return early in 1996.
STS-71: the shuttle docks at Mir
Space Shuttle Atlantis lifts off on an almost-ten-day mission to dock with the Russian space station Mir. The first docking proves to be a chore, as the Mir crew has to move one of the station’s modules to a different docking port to accomodate the shuttle. The historic docking – the first joint operation between the two countries since the Apollo-Soyuz mission almost exactly 20 years earlier – results in the largest man-made object in space to date. Aboard Atlantis are Commander Robert Gibson, Pilot Charles Precourt, and mission specialists Ellen Baker, Bonnie Dunbar and Gregory Harbaugh; cosmonauts Anatoly Solovyev and Nikolai Budarin are transported to Mir aboard Atlantis to become part of Mir Expedition 19, while Expedition 18 crew members Norman Thagard, Vladimir Dezhurov and Gannady Strekalov return to Earth after more than three months aboard Mir.
Spektr: expanding Mir anew
For the first time in five years, and the first time under the auspices of the Russian Federation, a new module is launched to expand the Mir space station. Originally devised as an add-on compartment to house experiments and equipment of a military nature, the Spektr module is, somewhat ironically, refitted to house American astronauts who will be joining future Mir station crews. Spektr also doubles Mir’s power generating capacity with its own solar panels.
Soyuz TM-21
An American astronaut lifts off aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft for the first time ever with the launch of Soyuz TM-21, a mission to the Mir space station. Cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Gennady Strekalov are joined by astronaut Norman Thagard aboard Mir, where they remain for 115 days. During that time, they witness the arrival of the Spektr module, a new addition to the station, and they ultimately return to Earth aboard space shuttle Atlantis in July 1995; Soyuz TM-21 remains at the station, where a future Mir crew uses it to return to Earth. During the Atlantis mission, a new record is set for the number of humans in space, as the station and shuttle crews add up to 13 people in orbit at once.
Soyuz TM-20
Russia launches the Soyuz TM-20 mission to space station Mir, carrying cosmonauts Alexander Viktorenko and Yelena Kondakova, and German astronaut Ulf Merbold, who will remain for only a month to conduct experiments in orbit. A glitch in the automated docking system forces Viktorenko to assume manual control for the docking with Mir, a problem which will plague future Mir crews. Viktorenko and Kondakova remain aboard Mir for 169 days, returning to Earth in March 1995 with the new space endurance world record holder, Dr. Valery Polyakov, who has spent 437 days in orbit.
Soyuz TM-19
Soyuz TM-19 lifts off from Kazakhstan, on a mission to the Russian space station Mir with cosmonauts Yuri Malenchenko and Talgat Musabayev aboard. Over the course of their 125-day stay, the crew joins Dr. Valery Polyakov aboard Mir, in the middle of his record-shattering 437-day stay in space. Malenchenko and Musabayev conduct 11 hours worth of spacewalks to repair Mir’s exterior insulation and other minor maintenance, and returns home in November 1994 with German astronaut Ulf Merbold.
A close call at Mir
The departing crew of Soyuz TM-17, cosmonauts Vasili Tsibliyev and Aleksandr Serebrov, board their capsule and vacate the Russian Mir space station, as planned. Ordered to take photos of the new docking assembly that will someday allow American space shuttles to visit Mir, Tsibliyev brings the Soyuz back to a close distance from the station, but complains of sluggish controls – just before Soyuz collides with the station, bouncing off of its outer hull twice. Mir’s newly arrived crew prepares to evacuate in their own Soyuz, but no critical damage is found to either the station or to Soyuz TM-17, which is allowed to return home. Tsibliyev’s luck aboard Mir will only get worse during his troubled second tour of duty on the station later in the 1990s.
Soyuz TM-18
Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-18 lifts off from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, on a mission to the Russian space station Mir. Aboard the Soyuz are cosmonauts Viktor Afanasyev, Yuri Usachov, and Dr. Valeri Polyakov, a medical doctor who will study the effects of long-duration spaceflight on the crew (including himself). Following a scary close call with the previous crew’s wayward Soyuz, the TM-18 crew settles in for a 182-day stay, with Afanasyev and Usachov returning to Earth; Polyakov remains aboard Mir, where he will eventually set the human space endurance record with a 420-day stay in orbit.
Soyuz TM-17
The Russian spacecraft Soyuz TM-17 lifts off from Kazakhstan, bound for space station Mir. Cosmonauts Vasili Tsibliyev, Aleksandr Serebrov replace the incumbent station crew, staying aboard Mir for 196 days, while Jean-Pierre Haigneré returns to Earth with the previous Mir crew aboard Soyuz TM-16 after a three-week stay. When the crew leaves Mir in January 1994, their departure is anything but routine, as Tsibliyev is unable to prevent a collision between Mir and the departing Soyuz.
The International Space Station
Having drawn the European Space Agency and Japan into partnerships for the still-on-the-drawing-board Space Station Freedom project, NASA announces that it is reaching out to post-Soviet Russia, not just for ideas and engineering expertise, but to become partners in the new space station. With already-built modules sitting on the ground for a Mir 2 station that it cannot afford to launch and operate on its own, Russia becomes a full partner in what will now become the International Space Station. Plans are accelerated for proposed missions to dock the Space Shuttle to the existing Mir space station, and to use Russian Soyuz capsules for crew transfer and return.
Soyuz TM-16: getting Mir ready for company
Cosmonauts Gennadi Manakov and Alexander Poleshchuk lift off aboard Soyuz TM-16, on a course for Russian space station Mir. In preparation for the upcoming joint international missions that will see American space shuttles docking with Mir, Soyuz TM-16 carries a new type of docking mechanism designed to test the docking port that will be used by visiting shuttles. Manakov and Poleshchuk remain aboard Mir for 179 days, returning to Earth in July 1993 with French spationaut Jean-Pierre Haigneré.