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The Space Shuttle and Mir

The main goal of STS-81 will be for the space shuttle to rendezvous and dock with the Russian space station, Mir.  this section briefly describes the characteristics of a Shuttle-Mir docking flight.  For more information, see the NASA web site that describes some of the previous Shuttle-Mir dockings:  HTTP://shuttle-mir.nasa.gov

Background, US/Russian space programs:  Beginning in early 1998, the US and Russia, together with Europe, Canada, and Japan, will begin building an international space station.  The US and Russia have had separate (and competing) space programs for decades.  As a first step toward working together, the two countries decided to combine their capabilities, and send the US space shuttle into space to visit the existing Russian space station, Mir.

Before construction begins on the new International Space Station, the space shuttle Atlantis will make nine visits to the Russian Mir.  The first of these historic missions took place in June of 1995 with STS-71.  STS-81 will be the fifth space shuttle flight in this series.

The Russian Space Station, Mir
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07/10/96
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