Shuttle-Mir History/People/Stories

Astronaut Shannon Lucid and Yuri Usachev

The human challenges and rewards of Shuttle-Mir are best revealed in excerpts from the Oral Histories. These stories were recorded by many of the program participants to help leave a record for the future.

For example, Bonnie Dunbar hints at why she became an astronaut.

Vladimir Titov tells what it's like to see Mir again and Norman Thagard describes the feeling of irony, working with Russians who used to be his adversaries.

Joe Engle relates how Apollo-Soyuz secrecy still echoed during Shuttle-Mir.

In space, danger is always possible, and Michael Foale describes the day a supply ship collided with Mir.

But humor is rarely absent, even in the vacuum of space. Shannon Lucid shares a laugh about having to speak in Russian.

And Jim Wetherbee quotes David Wolf, in a telling example of how an astronaut looks at risk.

All things come to an end, and so did the Shuttle-Mir Program. Andy Thomas describes how he felt as he saw Mir disappearing in the distance.

This Story Tour links eight Oral History excerpts, but dozens more are available on this web site. To begin the Story Tour select the "Continue Story Tour" button, and then keep selecting that button at the bottom of the successive pages. For a complete listing of Shuttle-Mir Stories, refer to the Site Map. To take other tours, select Tours.

Story Tour Links:
Dunbar on Seeing Sputnik
Titov on Seeing Mir Again
Thagard on Cold War Irony
Engle on Cold War Thaw
Foale on the Collision
Lucid on Language
Wetherbee Quoting Wolf on Risk
Thomas on Last View of Mir

Continue Story Tour


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