Shuttle Mir Oral Histories
The NASA History Office gathers first-hand experiences through oral history interviews from a variety of individuals serving in the NASA and contractor work force, eliciting details of procedures, processes, methodologies, rationale, and background of operations.
From early 1994 into 1998, seven American astronauts spent nearly 1000 days living in orbit with Russian cosmonauts on board the space station Mir. Called “Phase 1,” the Shuttle-Mir Program prepared the way for the International Space Station and began an era of cooperation and exploration. The following interviews, captured at the end of the Shuttle-Mir Program, were an attempt to document the history of the first major American and Russian partnership after the fall of the Soviet Union, which combined the Space Shuttle’s ready access to space with Russia’s space station Mir.
Titles listed reflect the positions that the subject held while involved with the program.
| Name | Interview Date | Positions |
|---|---|---|
| Mark J. Albrecht | 4/20/1999 | Executive Secretary, National Space Council |
| Aleksandr P. Aleksandrov | 3/25/1998 | Co-chair, Crew Training and Exchange Working Group and EVA Working Group |
| Michael R. Barratt | 4/14/1998 | Flight Surgeon |
| Roger D. Billica | 6/17/1998 | Lead, Medical Operations Working Group |
| Victor D. Blagov | 5/29/1998 | Deputy Flight Director, Mission Control, Russia |
| John E. Blaha | 8/24/1998 | NASA 3 Mir Residident |
| Valeri V. Bogomolov | 5/30/1998 | Institute of Biomedical Problems |
| Travis R. Brice | 5/7/1998 | Russian Projects Office |
| William C. Brown | 5/6/1998 | Chair, Crew Exchange Working Group |
| Tommy E. Capps | 8/18/1998 | Training Manager |
| Jeffrey A. Cardenas | 4/24/1998 5/21/1998 | Co-chair, Mir Operations and Integration Working Group |
| Robert E. Castle | 6/24/1998 | Flight Director |
| John B. Charles | 8/28/1998 | NASA/Mir Mission Scientist |
| Christine A. Chiodo | 8/4/1998 | Operations Lead, Russia |
| Tom E. Cremins | 2/13/1998 | Deputy, Assistant to the Director, Russia |
| Frank L. Culbertson | 3/24/1998 | Shuttle-Mir Program Manager |
| Brian Dailey | 4/19/1999 | National Space Council |
| Sally P. Davis | 8/14/1998 | Russian Interface Officer (RIO) |
| Bonnie J. Dunbar | 6/16/1998 | Shuttle Astronaut |
| Paul F. Dye | 5/27/1998 | Flight Director |
| Phillip L. Engelauf | 6/24/1998 | Flight Director |
| Joe H. Engle | 7/15/1998 | Stafford-Utkin Task Force |
| Christopher F. Flynn | 9/8/1998 | Flight Surgeon |
| C. Michael Foale | 6/16/1998 7/7/1998 7/31/1998 | Shuttle Astronaut, NASA 5 Mir Resident |
| Richard K. Fullerton | 5/21/1998 | Co-chair, EVA Working Group |
| Scott D. Gahring | 7/31/1998 | Operations Lead, NASA 7 Increment |
| William H. Gerstenmaier | 9/22/1998 | Operations Lead, NASA 2 Increment |
| Jessie M. Gilmore | 9/1/1998 | Executive Secretary/Assistant,Phase 1 Program Office |
| Yuri Nikolayevich Glazkov | 5/31/1998 | Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center |
| Albert W. Holland | 8/13/1998 | Psychologist |
| Brent W. Jett | 6/17/1998 | Director of Operations, Russia, Shuttle Astronaut |
| Gary W. Johnson | 2/17/1998 | Deputy Director, Russian Projects SR&QA |
| Yuri P. Kargopolov | 5/29/1998 | Gagarin Crew Training Center |
| Gary H. Kitmacher | 6/29/1998 | Lead, Priroda Module |
| Wendy B. Lawrence | 7/21/1998 | Shuttle Astronaut , Mission Specialist STS-86 and STS-91 |
| Anatoli V. Lomanov | 5/31/1998 | Deputy Director, Russian Program Coordination & Organization |
| Michael E. Lopez-Alegria | 7/7/1998 | Director of Operations, Russia, Shuttle Astronaut |
| Shannon W. Lucid | 6/17/1998 | Shuttle Astronaut, NASA 2 Mir Resident |
| Michael G. Lutomski | 3/12/1998 | Operations Representative, NASA Moscow Technical Liaison Office |
| Thomas H. Marshburn | 9/4/1998 | Flight Surgeon |
| Isaac W. “Caasi” Moore | 6/19/1998 | Operations Lead, NASA 3 Increment |
| Patricia Moore | 7/30/1998 | Operations Lead, NASA 6 Increment |
| Valeri V. Morgun | 7/17/1998 | Gagarin Crew Training Center |
| Michael Mott | 4/23/1999 | NASA Associate Deputy Administrator |
| James R. Nise | 2/12/1998 | Contract Director, Shuttle-Mir Management Working Group |
| Donald S. Noah | 8/4/1998 | Manager, Space Shuttle Integration Engineering Office |
| Richard W. Nygren | 7/23/1998 | Chair, Mir Operations and Integration Working Group |
| Sam L. Pool | 8/3/1998 | Assistant Director, Space Medicine Space and Life Sciences Directorate |
| Charles J. Precourt | 7/12/1998 | Shuttle Astronaut, Commander STS-84 and STS-91 |
| Debra Rahn | 7/8/1998 | Public Affairs Officer, International Relations |
| William F. Readdy | 6/8/1998 | Shuttle Astronaut, Commander STS-79 |
| Lisa M. Reed | 6/19/1998 | Training Lead |
| William D. Reeves | 6/22/1998 | Flight Director |
| Valery V. Ryumin | 4/27/1998 | Director, NASA-Mir Program, Russia |
| George W. Sandars | 6/12/1998 | Chair, Flight Operations and Systems Integration Working Group |
| Anthony C. Sang | 3/18/1998 | Operations Lead, NASA 4 Increment |
| Ronald M. Sega | 7/6/1998 9/9/1998 | Director of Operations, Russia |
| Vladimir Semyachkin | 7/17/1998 | General Designer, RSC Energia |
| Salizhan S. Sharipov | 3/8/1998 | Cosmonaut, Mission Specialist, STS-89 |
| Charles Stegemoeller | 8/6/1998 | Project Manager/Spektr Module |
| Norman E. Thagard | 9/16/1998 | Shuttle Astronaut, NASA 1 Mir Resident |
| Andrew S.W. Thomas | 7/22/1998 | Shuttle Astronaut, NASA 7 Mir Resident |
| Vladmir G. Titov | 7/21/1998 | Cosmonaut, STS-63 and STS-86 |
| Oleg S. Tsygankov | 3/25/1998 | Manager, Mir EVA Office |
| John J. Uri | 5/15/1998 | NASA Phase 1 Mission Scientist |
| James E. Van Laak | 3/12/1998 | Deputy Director, Phase 1 Program Office |
| Pavel M. Vorobiev | 5/29/1998 | Co-chair, Cargo and Scheduling Subgroup, RSC Energia |
| J. Kevin Watson | 4/9/1998 | NASA Liason |
| James D. Wetherbee | 8/6/1998 | Shuttle Astronaut, STS-63 and STS-86 |
| David A. Wolf | 6/23/1998 | Shuttle Astronaut, NASA 6 Mir Resident |
| Keith Zimmerman | 7/23/1998 | Operations Lead, NASA 5 Increment |
Docking in Space
STS-74 was the first Space Shuttle mission to actually help build a space station. Its payload included two solar arrays and a module essential for future dockings of the Russian space station and the U.S. Shuttle. On Flight Day 3, astronauts Chris Hadfield and Bill McArthur used Atlantis' robot arm to grapple the docking module, swing it out of the payload hay, and position it on the end of the docking system at a right angle out of the payload bay. Commander Ken Cameron and Pilot Jim Halsell then fired Shuttle thrusters to "bump" the docking assemblies together.
Read more about the missions in Shuttle-Mir: <br>The US and Russia Share History's Highest Stage
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