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Aviation History
1996
1996 - 0649.PDF
sMccnteffr The third Shuttle Mir Mission will be launched on 21 March Longer life Seven more Space Shuttle missions are scheduled to dock with the Russian Mir 1 space station. TIM FURNISS/LONDON THE LIFE EXPECTANCY OF the ten-year-old Russian Mir 1 space station is to be extended to 2000, with the help of two more Shuttle Mir Missions (SMMs) by NASA and an additional infusion of $200 mil lion by the US space organisation. The original SMM programme was to have involved seven Shuttle flights and long-duration stays on the Mir 1 by four NASA astronauts, for which NASA had agreed to pay Russia $335 million. The SMM1 and 2 missions have been complet ed, and the SMM3 is poised for launch on 21 March (Flight International, 14-20 June 1995), carrying NASA astronaut Shannon Lucid, the first long-duration SMM flyer. The new SMM8 and 9 flights will be largely for logistics purposes, but will also cost NASA another $124 million to fly. The SMMs 8 and 9 will be launched in 1998 — during the period when-NASA and Russia will assemble the first elements of the International $pace Station Alpha and man it for the first time (Flight International, 17-23 January). • MIR FLIGHT DIARY 1996 March: Soyuz TM23 cosmonauts Yuri Onufrienko and Yuri Usachev to work aboard the Mirl. 21 March: The SMM3/STS7'6/'Atlantis to be launched with commander Kevin Chilton, pilot Richard Searfoss and mission specialists (MS) Shannon Lucid, Linda Godwin, Rich Clifford and Ron Sega. Godwin and Clifford to conduct space walks, to transfer three experiments to the Mir. The Atlantis will be equipped with a Spacehab module for five-day joint life-sciences science mission. The STS76 will cany 570kg of water and 660kg of logistics equipment. Lucid will remain on the Mir 1 forplanned 143-day stay. The STS76 will land after ten-day flight. 14 April: The Russian Priroda module will be launched to the Mir 1 to enable assembly of the ageing space station to be completed, six years later than planned originally by Russia. The Priroda will be equipped with 680kg of US experiments and equipment for use by the long-duration NASA astronauts. July: Soyuz TM24 cosmonauts Gennadi Manakov and Pavel Vonogradev to become new resident crew, with French astronaut Claudie Andre-Deshays, who will return with the TM23 crew after a 14-day stay. 1 August: SMM4/STS79/Atlantis to be launched with commander Bill Readdy, pilot Terrence Wilcutt and mission specialists Tom Akers, Jerome Apt, Carl Walz and John Blaha. Akers and Apt to perform space walks outside the Mir 1 which will include the first operational use of the Simplified Aid for EVA [extra-vehicular activi ty] Rescue unit, called the SAFER, and which was tested on the STS64. The Atlantis, equipped with the first Spacehab double module for five-day life and materials sci ences operations with the Mir 1 crew (Flight International, 13-19 December, 1995), will be used to deliver 590kg of water and 660kg of logistics equipment. The unique Blaha — a former Shuttle commander — will stay on the Mir for 137 days. The Atlantis will stay on station for ten days, and bring Lucid back to Earth. 5 December: The SMM5/STS8l/Atlantis to be launched with commander Mike Baker, pilot Brent Jett and mission specialists Jerry Linenger, John Grunsfield, Jeff Wisoff and Marsha Ivins. The Atlantis will carry a Spacehab double module for five days of operations with the Mir 1 crew and will carry 650kg of equipment and 590kg of water. Linenger will remain on the Mir 1 for a planned 157-day flight. Blaha will return on the STS81 after its ten-day flight. Linenger and one Russian to conduct a space walk. December (date to be announced): The Soyuz TM25 will be launched with probable crew of Vasily Tsibleyev, Alexander Lazutin and German astronaut Ewald Reinhold. The new Russian cosmonauts will remain on the Mir, and the German will return with the TM24 crew. 1997 I May: The SM6/STSS4/Atlantis will be launched with commander Charles Precourt and MS Michael Foale among its crew. Foale is a replacement for original crewman Scott Parazinksy (Flight International, 1-7 November, 1995). Five days of joint oper ations with the Mir 1 crew are planned and the spacecraft will be equipped with a Spacehab double module and 590kg of water and 450kg of equipment for the Mir crew. Foale will remain on the Mir 1 for 143 days. Linenger will return after the STS86's ten-day mission. May (date to be announced): The Soyuz TM26 will be launched with new resident crew to replace Russian TM25 duo, to be followed by regular TM flights every five months. II September: The SMM7/STS86/Atlantis to be launched with crew of six and will carry a new solar-dynamics electrical-power-generation module to be attached to the Mir 1, for technical assessment, and 590kg of water and 60kg of equipment. Two NASA astronauts and two Russians to carry out space walks to transfer equipment to the Mir 1. The STS86 will return with Foale after its ten-day flight. 1998 15 January: Launch of the SMM8/STS90/D£Kwery, the first SMM mission by the orbiter Discovery after its refurbishment for Alpha missions. Equipped with a Spacehab dou ble module, the Discovery will deliver 2,500kg of science and logistics equipment. A long-duration stay aboard the Mir may be made by Foale's back-up, James Voss. May (date to be announced): The SMM9/STS91/Dw«wery, equipped with the Spacehab single module, will deliver equipment to the Mir 1. The Discovery will also carry a pre viously manifested astronomy payload. A long-duration stay aboard the Mir may be made by an astronaut replacing Voss. 1999 Regular Soyuz TM flights and possible new SMMs. FLIGHT INTERNATIONAL 20 - 26 March 1996 29
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