Russian Space Agency
(RKA)
and NASA --
with space shuttle
The heart of venerable Mir Space Station was its core, launched on February 20, 1986. By 1996, however, the addition of Priroda expanded the Station to a total of seven modules (including its core, Kvant, Kvant 2, Kristall, Spektr, Priroda, and a special Shuttle Docking Module), totalling over 100 tons. Mir measured more than 107 feet long (nearly 33 meters) -- with docked Progress-M unmanned supply and Soyuz-TM manned spacecraft -- and was about 90 feet (over 27 meters) across. By 2000, station accommodations with a long-term habitable capacity of three were available (from the Russian Space Agency through RSC Energia's 60 percent stake in MirCorp) for lease by private individuals (e.g., Citizen Explorer flights) and commercial interests (e.g., NBC's $35-40 million, TV broadcast rights to Destination Mir). An August 23, 2000 news release for Dennis Tito, the first Citizen Explorer, suggested that the US$ 20 million package included not only a 7-10 day flight and stay on Mir but also training and lodging at the Yuri Gagarin Cosmonauts Training Center located in Star City, Russia -- just outside cosmopolitan Moscow -- and the Baikonur Cosmodrome launch complex in exotic Kazakstan.
Due to funding problems, however, Mir was maneuvered into burning up in the Earth's atmosphere on March 23, 2001. As a result, Dennis Tito became the first Citizen Explorer to stay (from April 30 to May 5th?) at Russian quarters in the new International Space Station instead.
RKA
and NASA
Gennady Strekalov,
Charlie Precourt,
Bonnie Dunbar, and
Greg Harbaugh during
a 1995 docking with
the Space Shuttle.