Shuttle-Mir Planning

Chapter 7 has demonstrated how from the 1960s onward, Soviet-American relations in the life sciences remained cordial, punctuated by exchanges of data and research findings, along with dozens of experiments flown by US research­ers on Soviet Bion satellites. In the years immediately preceding the collapse of the Soviet Union, life science researchers on both sides of the iron curtain continued to sustain low-budget, but scientifically meaningful cooperation. As of 1991, NASA had already shipped and installed special X-ray equipment for measuring bone density before and after extended Mir flights. As detailed in the last chapter, from 1975 through 1992, NASA’s Ames Research Center had been contributing experiments to Soviet biosatellites. In June 1991 a materials experiment “the size of two tuna cans” traveled to Mir aboard a robotic Progress M-8 cargo craft. This was a cooperative project between NASA and the Soviet Union’s Institute for Biomedical Problems (the same institutions responsible for biosatellite cooperation that bridged the Carter-Reagan gap in cooperation). Soviets lacked data on solar radiation levels outside the Mir and Americans were collecting information necessary for long-voyage engineering and, more imme­diately, Space Station Freedom design. Other advantages included the fact that the radiation experiment required no electricity from Mir and that it occupied minimal cargo room on its returning Soyuz capsule (Soviet representatives hap­pily took this opportunity to point out that Mir maintained a “backlog” of manufactured materials waiting to be returned to earth).34

Roughly three weeks before the failed August Coup against Gorbachev, President George H. W. Bush proposed a new twist. In a series of initiatives developed by the National Space Council and Vice President Dan Quayle, Bush suggested the exchange of an astronaut with a cosmonaut. Might it be possible for an American to visit Mir, if the Americans accepted a cosmonaut guest on the Shuttle?

At this early phase, NASA maintained life sciences as the primary research interest. The Soviets would provide data already gathered on long-duration flight research; both would share medical equipment for flight and participate in efforts to standardize scientific instruments and lab analysis.35 The exchange of crew held great symbolic value, foreshadowing a possible decline in secrecy of the then Soviet state. It would entail cross-training at the respective partner facilities, as well as calling for new telecommunications links between human spaceflight cen­ters. Whereas the Americans had only flown up to 84 days in orbit, their experi­ments tended to be carried out on more sophisticated equipment and performed in-flight. The Soviets, on the other hand, could boast Mir missions of a year’s length, but conducted most of their physiological research pre – and postflight and still had no freezer aboard Mir for storing blood and urine samples.36

Some warned of disadvantages. Frank Sulzman, chief of NASA’s life support branch, pointed out what critics might find less appealing. For one thing, some may fear the undue transfer of American biotechnology to Soviet counterparts, thereby enhancing their lead in long-duration flights. One official, preferring to remain nameless, speculated that the cash-strapped Russians may charge the Americans money for “the means of minimizing the effects of weightlessness on the body,” which in the short-term include nausea, fluid redistribution in the head and legs, and disorientation.37

In June of 1992, NASA administrator Dan Goldin (appointed by President Bush in April 1992) explained that the Americans and now Russian partners were advancing to the “next crucial step in expanding cooperative space activities.”38 Now, in addition to the flight of a cosmonaut on the Shuttle and an astronaut on Mir, the parties had agreed to negotiate two more international flights: an in-orbit rendezvous of craft (meaning the Shuttle would circle, but not dock with the Mir) and the eventual docking of the two craft a few months later. With the second exercise, astronaut Norm Thagard would transfer from Mir to the Shuttle for his return flight (which took place in the summer of 1995). Table 8.1 lists the Phase 1 Shuttle-Mir Flights.39

In the fall of 1992, negotiations commenced between Rockwell International (since 1972, the prime contractor on the Shuttle orbiter) and NPO Energia for the use of a Russian-designed Mir-Shuttle docking module.40 In the meantime, as NASA staff settled into cooperating with the Russian Space Agency Roskosmos (itself only five months old) and Rockwell began work with Energia, the American press discussed the likelihood that American firms and NASA might take any number of courses: purchase Mir outright, invite Russian participation on the Space Station Freedom, or commence with plans for an i nternational human

mission to Mars. But this was all speculation. At the time, Russian ties to the Space Station Freedom (by 1992 a disheartening eight years in the making—see chapter 13) were limited to a study contract, exploring whether or not the Soyuz might be employed as an ACRV “life boat” on the space station.

At the beginning of the Shuttle-Mir Missions, the Mir Space Station con­sisted of four modules, launched incrementally.41

Mir Base Blok (also: FGB Universal Blok Salyut or FGB Universal and Adaptable Space Apparatus (SA)): This module, derived from the military space station Almaz, had been used to provide power, station-keeping reboost, tug­ging, and docking to a number Russian missions—human and robotic alike. A report provided to NASA by the Khrunichev State Research and Production Facility highlighted the adaptability, variability, and compatibility of the FGBs, explaining that they were identical, predesigned systems with the same engines, tanks, control units, thermal systems, and so on. Russian engineers achieved variability among FGB craft by moving engines, adding or subtracting tanks, or changing electrical power ratings. Thus, the FGB blok was compatible with all Salyut, Mir, and eventually Russian ISS modules and had provided power to at least seven robotic Kosmos missions as well as Mir’s Kvant-2, Kristal, Spektr, and Piroda modules.

Kvant-1: This blok was launched in 1987, carrying instruments for scientific experimentation as well as six gyrodynes and a Salyut 5-B digital computer for station orientation.

Kvant-2: Launched in 1989, this module included an extravehicular activity (EVA) airlock, solar arrays, and additional life support equipment.

Kristal: Docked in 1990, carrying scientific equipment, retractable solar arrays, and an androgynous docking mechanism.

Spektr: A derivative of the FGB apparatus, Spektr had originally been designed for Soviet military experiments, but had never been launched due to a lack of funding. “Rescued” by US-Russian cooperation, this module was launched in May 1995. Americans and Russians used it for earth observation and atmo­spheric study.

Priroda: Supplied additional remote sensing capability, along with hardware for materials processing, meteorological and ionospheric research. Priroda also carried equipment for US, French, and German research.