Shuttle-Mir's lessons for the International Space Station

NASA's groundbreaking and controversial partnership in the Mir program is winding down. For more than two years, a stream of US astronauts has been sent aloft, one after the other, to join the crew aboard the Russian space station. Now the space partners and a dozen associated nations are collaborating on a yet more ambitious joint space project, the International Space Station (ISS), due later this year for the launch of its first element, a Russian-built cargo block. This paper explores just what the Shuttle-Mir union has taught participants in the ISS project about lengthy space operations, and at what cost.