Editing Shuttle–Mir program (section)

===America arrives at ''Mir'' (1995)===
1995 began with the launch of the Space Shuttle ''Discovery'' on February 3. Discovery's mission, [[STS-63]], was the second Space Shuttle flight in the program and the first flight of the shuttle with a female pilot, [[Eileen Collins]]. Referred to as the "near-''Mir''" mission, the eight-day flight saw the first rendezvous of a Space Shuttle with ''Mir'', as Russian cosmonaut [[Vladimir Titov (cosmonaut)|Vladimir Titov]] and the rest of ''Discovery''{{'s}} crew approached within {{convert|37|ft|m}} of ''Mir''. Following the rendezvous, Collins performed a flyaround of the station. The mission, a dress rehearsal for the first docked mission in the program, [[STS-71]], also carried out testing of various techniques and pieces of equipment that would be used during the docking missions that followed.<ref name="SMH Flights"/><ref>{{cite web|title=STS-63 Mission Summary|author=Jim Dumoulin|publisher=NASA|date=June 29, 2001|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-63/mission-sts-63.html|access-date=March 30, 2007|archive-date=March 20, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090320085830/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-63/mission-sts-63.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author= Kathy Sawyer|title=US & Russia Find Common Ground in Space – Nations Overcome Hurdles in Ambitious Partnership|newspaper=Washington Post|page=a1|date=January 29, 1995|publisher=Retrieved March 9, 2007 from NewsBank}}</ref>

{{anchor|Thagard increment}}
Five weeks after ''Discovery''{{'s}} flight, the March 14 launch of [[Soyuz TM-21]] carried expedition EO-18 to ''Mir''. The crew consisted of cosmonauts [[Vladimir Dezhurov]] and [[Gennady Strekalov]] and NASA astronaut [[Norman Thagard]], who became the first American to fly into space aboard the [[Soyuz spacecraft]]. During the course of their 115-day expedition, the ''[[Spektr]]'' science module (which served as living and working space for American astronauts) was launched aboard a [[Proton rocket]] and docked to ''Mir''. Spektr carried more than {{convert|1500|lb|kg}} of research equipment from America and other nations. The expedition's crew returned to Earth aboard [[Space Shuttle Atlantis|Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'']] following the first Shuttle–''Mir'' docking during mission [[STS-71]].<ref name="SSSM"/><ref name="Dragonfly"/><ref name ="LoME">[[List of Mir expeditions]]</ref>

[[Image:Docking Module (STS-74).jpg|thumb|left|The [[Mir Docking Module|''Mir'' Docking Module]], positioned in ''Atlantis''{{'s}} payload bay on [[STS-74]], ready to be docked to ''[[Kristall]]''|alt=A space shuttle payload bay, covered in white insulation, with a small, cylindrical orange module at one end, supported by the shuttle's robotic arm. The blackness of space and the Earth serve as the backdrop.]]

The primary objectives of STS-71, launched on June 27, called for the Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'' to rendezvous and perform the first docking between an American Space Shuttle and the station. On June 29, ''Atlantis'' successfully docked with ''Mir'', becoming the first US spacecraft to dock with a Russian spacecraft since the [[Apollo-Soyuz Test Project]] in 1975.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Scott|first1=David|author-link=David Scott|last2=Leonov|first2=Alexei|author2-link=Alexei Leonov|title=Two Sides of the Moon|publisher=Pocket Books|date = April 30, 2005|isbn=978-0-7434-5067-6|id= {{ASIN|0743450671|country=uk}}}}</ref> ''Atlantis'' delivered cosmonauts [[Anatoly Solovyev]] and [[Nikolai Budarin]], who would form the expedition EO-19 crew, and retrieved astronaut Norman Thagard and cosmonauts Vladimir Dezhurov and Gennady Strekalov of the expedition EO-18 crew. ''Atlantis'' also carried out on-orbit joint US-Russian life sciences investigations aboard a [[Spacelab]] module and performed a logistical resupply of the station.<ref name="SMH Flights"/><ref>{{cite web|title=STS-71 Mission Summary|author=Jim Dumoulin|publisher=NASA|date=June 29, 2001|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-71/mission-sts-71.html|access-date=March 30, 2007|archive-date=March 29, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150329042625/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-71/mission-sts-71.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=Nick Nuttall| title = Shuttle homes in for Mir docking|newspaper=The Times|date=June 29, 1995|publisher =Retrieved March 9, 2007 from NewsBank}}</ref>

The final Shuttle flight of 1995, [[STS-74]], began with the November 12 launch of Space Shuttle ''Atlantis'', and delivered the Russian-built [[Mir Docking Module|Docking Module]] to ''Mir'', along with a new pair of solar arrays and other hardware upgrades for the station. The Docking Module was designed to provide more clearance for Shuttles in order to prevent any collisions with ''Mir''{{'s}} solar arrays during docking, a problem which had been overcome during [[STS-71]] by relocating the station's ''[[Kristall]]'' module to a different location on the station. The module, attached to ''Kristall''{{'s}} docking port, prevented the need for this procedure on further missions. During the course of the flight, nearly {{convert|1000|lb|kg}} of water were transferred to ''Mir'' and experiment samples including blood, urine and saliva were moved to ''Atlantis'' for return to Earth.<ref name="SMH Flights"/><ref>
{{cite web|title=CSA – STS-74 – Daily Reports|publisher=Canadian Space Agency|date=October 30, 1999|url=http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/missions/sts-074/reports.asp|access-date=September 17, 2009|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110716061546/http://www.asc-csa.gc.ca/eng/missions/sts-074/reports.asp|archive-date=July 16, 2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=STS-74 Mission Summary|author=Jim Dumoulin|publisher=NASA|date=June 29, 2001|url=http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-74/mission-sts-74.html|access-date=March 30, 2007|archive-date=December 20, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161220034436/http://science.ksc.nasa.gov/shuttle/missions/sts-74/mission-sts-74.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|author=William Harwood|title=Space Shuttle docks with Mir – Atlantis uses manoeuvres similar to those needed for construction|newspaper=Washington Post|page=a3|date=November 15, 1995|publisher=Retrieved March 9, 2007 from NewsBank}}</ref>

[[Image:S79e5219.jpg|thumb|A view of the Travers RADAR antenna on the newly launched ''[[Priroda]]'' module during [[STS-79]]|alt=A rectangular dish shape of scaffolding covered in transparent sheeting, with a white insulation-covered radio receiver and support projecting from the centre. The blackness of space serves as the backdrop.]]