Word: thagard
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Both ships, the shuttle Atlantis and the space station Mir, had crews from both countries. Atlantis was ferrying a fresh pair of cosmonauts to Mir for the next two months; the Mir crew--two Russians and American Norman Thagard--looked forward to returning to Earth next week aboard the shuttle...
After 84 days aboard the Russian space station Mir-- and a bracing diet of canned Russian perch -- American astronaut Norman Thagard has broken the U.S. space endurance record set by three Skylab astronauts in 1974. Now, he's ready for the green hills of Earth. "I miss my family," said Thagard, who became the first American to be launched on a Russian rocket Mar. 14. "I've got three sons and a wife and two cats, and I like them all and I miss them." Unfortunately, he's got another month to go. One Skylab astronaut, Edward Gibson, today radioed...
...countdown--just a deep voice that suddenly said, "Zazhiganiye [ignition]." As the white Soyuz rocket soared up over the brown Kazakh desert, it flew into a new era of space exploration, transforming one of the 20th century's fiercest rivalries into a partnership for the 21st century. Thagard, 51, became the first American to be shot into space aboard a Russian launcher. And after a two-day ride on the Soyuz, the physician-astronaut became the first American to take up residence in the Mir space station, where he will study the effects of lengthy space flight on the human...
...June comes the grand finale of Thagard's mission: for the first time ever, a U.S. shuttle will dock with Mir, picking up the astronaut and his two Russian colleagues and making them the first people to leave earth on one country's rocket and return home on the craft of another. The docking and six similar missions planned for the next two years are just warm-ups for the space industry's version of the Super Bowl. Between 1997 and 2002, the Russians and the Americans, with help from the European Space Agency, Canada and Japan, intend to build...
...that was forgotten, though, when the Soyuz had its triumphant rendezvous with Mir. Entering his new home, Thagard got a welcoming kiss from cosmonaut Elena Kondakova and a traditional Russian gift of bread and salt. Back at the cosmonaut training center near Moscow, Thagard's wife Kirby and three sons had already celebrated. As their hero made history, they ate the cake he wasn't allowed to touch before launch...