The space mission that marked the beginning of collaboration between the United States and Russia turns 30.
On February 3, 1994, the space shuttle Discovery left for the Russian space station Mir and for the first time since the beginning of the space age, 37 years earlier, the two countries worked together in orbit.
A collaboration that has never stopped since then and which, despite the war in Ukraine, still continues on board the International Space Station.
For the first time on that mission, STS-60, Discovery's crew included a cosmonaut, Sergei Krikalev of the Russian space agency Roscosmos.
Also under Charles Bolden's command were Kenneth Reightler, Jan Davis, Ronald Sega and Franklin Chang-Díaz.
A close passage took place between the two vehicles, but not the collision.
The crew of the shuttle and that of the Mir, composed of Valerij Polyakov, Viktor Afanas'ev and Yurij Usačëv, communicated thanks to a radio link.
In addition to the first Russian on board an American spacecraft, another first was the first spacewalk by an American in the Russian Orlan suit for extravehicular activities.
Thus began the Shuttle-Mir program, whose objective was to share American and Russian experiences in the space field.
Announced in 1993, the project continued until its completion in 1998 with 11 missions.
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