Competitors Agree to Cooperate

COMPETITORS AGREE TO COOPERATE

After decades of competition between the United States and the Soviet Union, the new Russian Federation and the United States agreed in 1994 to cooperate in the development and use of a large international space station. The partnership also includes Japan, Canada, and the European Space Agency. Under construction in the late 1990s for use in the 21st century, the new space station focuses the expertise and resources of all partners to achieve a permanent human presence in space.

SALYUT: THE WORLD'S FIRST SPACE STATION

On April 19, 1971, the Soviet Union launched the world's first space station, Salyut ("Salute"). Six improved Salyuts were launched during the next 10 years. The Salyuts were intended to make human presence in space routine and continuous. Besides doing scientific research and spacecraft maintenance, cosmonauts tested equipment that would make space stations more habitable.

There were 32 missions to the Salyuts, and the longest stay, aboard Salyut 7, was 237 days. In 1986 Salyut 7 was replaced by the modular Mir space station.

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A film return capsule from Salyut 5 and a flown Merkur spacecraft from the Salyut era are displayed nearby in the Satellite Reconnaissance exhibit.

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PROTON LAUNCH VEHICLE

All seven Salyut space stations and all Mir space station modules were launched into orbit by the Proton launch vehicle.

1:20 scale model

Gift of Glavkosmos

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Size:	44 m (145 ft)
Weight:	685,000 kg (1.5 million lb)
Thrust:	9 million newtons (2 million lb)
Manufacturer:	Khrunichev Design Bureau

A Home in Space			Mir: A Modular Station
Space Race > A Permanent Presence > Space Stations > 1-2-3-4 >> Illustrating the Threat