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The Shuttle–''Mir'' Program was a collaborative space program between Russia and the United States, which involved American Space Shuttles visiting the Russian space station ''Mir'', Russian cosmonauts flying on the shuttle, and an American astronaut flying aboard a Soyuz spacecraft to engage in long-duration expeditions aboard ''Mir''. The project, sometimes called "Phase One", was intended to allow the United States to learn from Russian experience with long-duration spaceflight and to foster a spirit of cooperation between the two nations and their space agencies, the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roskosmos). The project helped to prepare the way for further cooperative space ventures; specifically, "Phase Two" of the joint project, the construction of the International Space Station (ISS). The program was announced in 1993, the first mission started in 1994 and the project continued until its scheduled completion in 1998. Eleven Space Shuttle missions, a joint Soyuz flight and almost 1000 cumulative days in space for American astronauts occurred over the course of seven long-duration expeditions. During the four-year program, many firsts in spaceflight were achieved by the two nations, including the first American astronaut to launch aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, the largest spacecraft ever to have been assembled at that time in history, and the first American spacewalk using a Russian Orlan spacesuit. The program was marred by various concerns, notably the safety of ''Mir'' following a fire and a collision, financial issues with the cash-strapped Russian Space Program and worries from astronauts about the attitudes of the program administrators. Nevertheless, a large amount of science, expertise in space station construction and knowledge in working in a cooperative space venture was gained from the combined operations, allowing the construction of the ISS to proceed much more smoothly than would have otherwise been the case. ==Background== The origins of the Shuttle–Mir Program can be traced back to the Apollo–Soyuz Test Project, that resulted in an joint US/Soviet mission during the détente period of the Cold War and the docking between an US Apollo spacecraft and an Soviet Soyuz spacecraft in 1975. This was followed by the talks between NASA and Intercosmos in the 1970s about a "Shuttle-Salyut" program to fly Space Shuttle missions to a Salyut space station, with later talks in the 1980s even considering flights of the future Soviet shuttles from the Buran programme to a future US space station – this "Shuttle-Salyut" program never materialized however during the existence of the Soviet Intercosmos program.〔Wikisource:Mir Hardware Heritage/Part 2 - Almaz, Salyut, and Mir#2.1.6 Shuttle-Salyut .281973-1978.3B 1980s.29〕 This changed after the Dissolution of the Soviet Union: the end of Cold War and Space Race resulted in funding for the US modular space station ''Freedom'', which was planned since the early 1980s, being slashed. Similar budgetary difficulties were being faced by other nations with space station projects, prompting American government officials to start negotiations with partners in Europe, Russia, Japan, and Canada in the early 1990s to begin a collaborative, multi-national, space station project.〔 In the Russian Federation – the successor to much of the Soviet Union and its space program – the deteriorating economic situation in the post-Soviet economic chaos lead to growing financial problems of the now Russian space station program; The construction of the ''Mir''-2 space station as an replacement for the aging ''Mir'' became illusionary, though only after its base block, DOS-8, had been built.〔 These developments resulted in bringing the former adversaries together with the Shuttle–Mir Program, which would pave the way to the International Space Station, a joint project with several international partners. In June 1992, American President George H. W. Bush and Russian president Boris Yeltsin agreed to co-operate on space exploration by signing the ''Agreement between the United States of America and the Russian Federation Concerning Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes''. This agreement called for setting up a short, joint space project, during which one American astronaut would board the Russian space station ''Mir'' and two Russian cosmonauts would board a Space Shuttle.〔 In September 1993, American Vice-President Al Gore, Jr., and Russian Prime Minister Viktor Chernomyrdin announced plans for a new space station, which eventually became the International Space Station. They also agreed, in preparation for this new project, that the United States would be heavily involved in the ''Mir'' project in the years ahead, under the code name "Phase One" (the construction of the ISS being "Phase Two"). The first Space Shuttle flight to Mir was an rendezvous mission without docking on STS-63. This was followed during the course of the project by a total of 9 Shuttle-Mir docking missions, from STS-71 to STS-91. The Shuttle rotated crews and delivered supplies, and one mission, STS-74, carried a docking module and a pair solar arrays to Mir. Various scientific experiments were also conducted, both on shuttle flights and long-term aboard the station. The project also saw the launch of two new modules, ''Spektr'' and ''Priroda'', to ''Mir'', which were used by American astronauts as living quarters and laboratories to conduct the majority of their science aboard the station. These missions allowed NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency to learn a great deal about how best to work with international partners in space and how to minimize the risks associated with assembling a large space station in orbit, as would have to be done with the ISS. The project also served as a political ruse on the part of the American government, providing a diplomatic channel for NASA to take part in the funding of the cripplingly under-funded Russian space program. This in turn allowed the newly fledged Russian government to keep ''Mir'' operating, in addition to the Russian space program as a whole, ensuring the Russian government remained (and remains) friendly towards the United States.〔〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Shuttle–Mir Program」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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