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- The focus of human space exploration shifted from the Moon to low Earth orbit after the United States achieved its lunar goal. The United States and Soviet Union had initially competed to land a man on the Moon, but subsequently concentrated on space stations and operations closer to Earth. Low Earth orbit extends to approximately 2,000 km above the surface; commercial aircraft fly at around 10 km, while the International Space Station orbits at about 400 km, where astronauts experience weightlessness.
- By 1970, the Soviet Union and United States relied on two principal crewed spacecraft designs. The Soviets used the Soyuz 7K, while the Americans used the Apollo command module. Neither was reusable, so a new spacecraft had to be built for every mission.
- Salyut 1 became the world's first space station in 1971. After abandoning its lunar ambitions, the Soviet Union launched the unoccupied station in April 1971. An initial crew of three failed to dock because of a computer malfunction and returned to Earth.
- The Soyuz 11 mission achieved the first successful long-duration stay aboard Salyut 1 but ended in the deaths of all three cosmonauts. The crew spent 24 days aboard the station, then the longest human stay in space. During their return, a valve broke shortly before atmospheric reentry, depressurizing the cabin; the capsule landed on autopilot, and recovery personnel discovered that all three men had died.
- The Soyuz 11 disaster prompted a redesign of the Soviet crewed spacecraft. The second-generation Soyuz 7K-T was developed primarily to transport cosmonauts safely to and from space stations.
- Salyut 2 was a failed station that concealed a military space program. Launched in 1973, it malfunctioned after approximately two weeks and was never visited. The station was actually Almaz 1, a secret military project whose true name became known in the West after the Soviet Union collapsed.
- Almaz 2, publicly designated Salyut 3, was visited by Soyuz 14 and became the only spacecraft in history identified in the episode as having fired a weapon. Launched in 1974, the military station operated successfully enough to receive a crew. The weapon was fired remotely by ground personnel while no cosmonauts were aboard, because officials were uncertain what would happen if it were fired with people present.
- Salyut 4 was a civilian space station visited by two crews. Soyuz 17 was the first of those visiting missions. The timeline presented in the episode included only selected notable missions rather than every flight.
- Salyut 5 was another military Almaz station operating under a civilian-sounding designation. It was actually Almaz 3 and received two visits, beginning with Soyuz 21. Unlike Almaz 2, it did not fire its gun.
- Salyut 6 marked a fundamental change in Soviet space-station design. Earlier stations had not been designed for long-term use over many years with repeated visits. Salyut 6 was built for sustained operations and became the basis for a more permanent human presence in orbit.
- The United States cancelled three planned Apollo lunar missions to concentrate on the Space Shuttle program. Apollo 17, conducted in December 1972, was the last Apollo mission to the Moon. Apollo 18, 19 and 20 were cancelled as NASA redirected resources toward other uses of its existing spacecraft and the development of reusable shuttles.
- NASA's Apollo Applications Program repurposed the Apollo command module after the lunar program ended. One major application was Skylab, the first and, at the time of the episode, only American space station. It was visited by three crewed missions officially called Skylab 2, 3 and 4, also commonly numbered Skylab 1, 2 and 3 because NASA made an error on the first mission badge and subsequently retained the alternative numbering.
- Apollo-Soyuz became the first joint space mission between two countries. On July 15, 1975, the Soviet Union launched a specially modified Soyuz and the United States launched a specially modified Apollo spacecraft. Two days later, the spacecraft docked, allowing American astronauts and Soviet cosmonauts to shake hands and visit each other's vehicles; the mission symbolized the easing of Cold War tensions during the 1970s before relations deteriorated again in the 1980s.
- Salyut 6 established new records for the duration and frequency of space-station visits. It hosted six long-term crews, with the longest stay lasting 185 days—more than twice the longest stay aboard Skylab. It also received 10 short-term crews, many of which brought astronauts from countries that had never previously sent someone into space.
- Salyut 6 expanded international access to human spaceflight, initially through countries aligned with the Soviet Union. Its visiting astronauts included the first people from Czechoslovakia, Poland, East Germany, Bulgaria, Hungary, Vietnam, Cuba and Mongolia to travel into space. The Vietnamese astronaut was also the first Asian person in space, according to the episode's account.
- Salyut 7 opened Soviet spaceflight to astronauts from non-communist countries. Operating alongside the third-generation Soyuz T spacecraft, it hosted the first Western European astronaut, a Frenchman, and the first Indian astronaut. The episode suggests that more international visitors might have flown had the station not subsequently experienced serious technical problems.
- The Soviet Union rescued Salyut 7 after losing contact with it in 1985. The unoccupied station lost power and effectively went dead. Rather than abandon it, Soviet mission control sent the Soyuz T-13 crew to repair it; the cosmonauts found the station freezing cold but restored its systems over several days.
- The Salyut 7 rescue became a landmark Soviet achievement comparable to the American Apollo 13 crisis. The recovery demonstrated that a crew could reach an apparently disabled station and restore its operation rather than leave it abandoned. The episode notes that the mission was later dramatized in a film titled Salyut 7.
- The Soviet Union briefly operated two space stations simultaneously when Mir began operations alongside Salyut 7. The Soviets continued using Salyut 7 into 1986 while developing Mir. The Soyuz T-15 mission visited both stations, becoming the first crew aboard Mir and the final crew to visit a station in the Salyut program.
- Mir introduced the modular space-station concept. Unlike earlier stations built around a largely fixed structure, Mir expanded over time as additional modules were attached. Its configuration therefore grew substantially from its initial form to its final arrangement.
- The Soviet and later Russian crewed space programs developed Soyuz through successive generations rather than repeatedly replacing its basic design. After Soyuz T-15, the remaining Soviet missions to Mir used the fourth-generation Soyuz TM spacecraft, with the M standing for modified. The broader approach contrasted with the American program, which developed several substantially different crewed spacecraft designs; the Soviet and Russian program generally retained the Soyuz architecture and improved it roughly once per decade.
- Mir became the first space station to maintain continuous human occupancy, beginning in 1989. Instead of bringing every crew home before launching a replacement, mission planners began overlapping crews so that at least one person remained aboard. This represented a major step toward the continuous occupation later associated with the International Space Station.
- Mir further broadened international participation in human spaceflight. Visiting crews included the first astronauts from Syria, Afghanistan, Japan, the United Kingdom and Austria. These missions expanded participation beyond the earlier Soviet practice of primarily inviting astronauts from allied communist countries.
- Toyohiro Akiyama became the first journalist to report from space on a commercially funded mission. His trip to Mir was paid for by Tokyo Broadcasting System, a Japanese broadcasting company. It demonstrated that a commercial organization could finance a person’s journey into orbit for a specific professional purpose rather than as a conventional government astronaut mission.
- Helen Sharman's journey to Mir was also privately financed. A group of companies funded the mission and ran a lottery to determine who would become the first British person in space. Her flight illustrated another way private financing could enable national representation in human spaceflight.
- The collapse of the Soviet Union changed the political identity and logistics of its space program. Soyuz TM-13 launched from the Soviet Union but returned to Earth in the newly independent country of Kazakhstan because the USSR dissolved during the flight. Subsequent missions became Russian rather than Soviet missions, even though Russia continued launching from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan and had to pay Kazakhstan rent to use the facility.
- Valeri Polyakov set the record for the longest uninterrupted stay in space. In 1995, he completed 438 consecutive days aboard Mir. The episode states that this single-mission record still stands.
- Oleg Kononenko holds a different record for cumulative time spent in space, according to the episode. Across five missions, the Russian cosmonaut accumulated 1,111 days in space, equivalent to slightly more than three years. This distinguishes total time across multiple missions from Polyakov's record for one continuous stay.
- The United States launched its first Space Shuttle mission in 1981, introducing a reusable crewed spacecraft. STS stood for Space Transport System, the program's official designation. NASA initially built four shuttles: Columbia, Challenger, Discovery and Atlantis.
- NASA intended the Space Shuttle to provide a flexible alternative to building another American space station. The plan was to launch reusable shuttles regularly and use their large cargo bays to carry out activities similar to those performed aboard Soviet stations such as Salyut 7 and Mir. The shuttle's reusability was a central difference from the earlier Apollo and Soyuz spacecraft.
- John Young commanded the first Space Shuttle flight, STS-1, and had an unusually extensive astronaut career. The episode's narrator argues that Young deserves to be better known than Neil Armstrong. Young was the only person to have both walked on the Moon and flown on a shuttle, and the only person to have flown aboard all four of the Gemini spacecraft, Apollo command module, Apollo lunar module and Space Shuttle.
- John Young's career included several other notable firsts and records. He was one of only three people to travel to the Moon twice, although he landed on the lunar surface only once. He was the first astronaut to fly in space six times and served as an astronaut for 42 years, making him the longest-serving astronaut in the episode's account.
- The Space Shuttle program depended heavily on international collaboration. Canada built the Canadarm, a robotic arm first installed on a shuttle during STS-3. It supported activities such as deploying satellites and assisting spacewalks.
- The European Space Agency contributed Spacelab, a laboratory carried in the shuttle's cargo bay. It enabled scientific experiments during selected missions and first flew on STS-9, which also carried West Germany's first astronaut. These projects demonstrated how the shuttle program enabled partner countries to contribute specialized equipment and participate in crewed spaceflight.
- Early Space Shuttle missions expanded representation in space. They included Sally Ride, the first American woman in space, as well as the first Black American, Canadian, Dutch, Mexican and Saudi Arabian spacefarers. The Saudi Arabian astronaut was also described as the first and, at the time, only royal to travel into space.
- Bruce McCandless performed the first untethered spacewalk during STS-41B. Unlike a conventional spacewalk in which an astronaut remains connected to the spacecraft by a tether, McCandless moved freely away from the shuttle. The event produced a widely recognized photograph.
- The Challenger disaster was the most devastating event in the Space Shuttle program's history. An explosion during takeoff killed all seven astronauts aboard, including Christa McAuliffe, a civilian teacher selected to become the first teacher in space. An estimated 2.5 million schoolchildren were watching the launch live, making the disaster a defining shared memory for Generation X.
- The designation STS-51L concealed the fact that Challenger's final mission was the 25th shuttle flight, not the 51st. NASA had adopted a complicated numbering system partly to avoid assigning the supposedly unlucky number STS-13. The number 5 indicated the originally planned year, 1985; 1 identified Kennedy Space Center as the launch site; and L indicated that the flight was intended to be the 12th shuttle mission of that year.
- NASA returned to a simpler Space Shuttle numbering system after the Challenger disaster. The agency also suspended shuttle flights for more than a year and a half. The next mission, STS-26, launched in 1988.
- After Challenger, the Space Shuttle program continued deploying major scientific spacecraft. NASA used shuttles to deploy the Magellan probe to Venus and the Galileo probe to Jupiter rather than launching those probes directly from the ground. In 1990, a shuttle deployed the Hubble Space Telescope, which subsequently produced major astronomical images.
- Endeavour replaced Challenger in NASA's shuttle fleet. Built following the disaster, Endeavour made its first flight in 1992. Its addition restored the fleet to four operational shuttle vehicles, alongside Columbia, Discovery and Atlantis.
- The collapse of the Soviet Union created opportunities for more sustained cooperation between the United States and Russia. In 1994, a Russian astronaut first flew aboard an American Space Shuttle. In 1995, an American astronaut first flew aboard a Soyuz and visited Mir, reversing the earlier pattern of the two countries largely operating separate crewed programs.
- The shuttle began visiting Mir in 1995, creating a practical bridge between the American and Russian space programs. STS-63 conducted the first close approach to Mir, although it did not dock. A few months later, STS-71 achieved the first shuttle docking with Mir; the shuttle ultimately docked with the station nine times.
- The International Space Station emerged from the merger of competing American and Russian station projects. The United States had planned Space Station Freedom, while Russia had planned Mir 2. Rather than proceed independently, the countries combined their plans into the ISS, with participation from Russia, the United States, Canada, Japan and the European Union.
- The ISS began assembly in orbit in 1998 through the connection of Russian and American components. Russia launched the first component, the Zarya module, in November. In December, the American Unity node was carried into orbit by STS-88 and connected to Zarya using the Canadarm, establishing the initial structure of the station.
- The ISS expanded through successive assembly missions in 1999 and beyond. The STS-96 crew became the first to dock with and enter the developing station, but was not designated Expedition 1. Expeditions are the long-duration crews that have rotated through the ISS continuously for more than 25 years, according to the episode.
- Expedition 1 arrived aboard Soyuz TM-31, following the final Mir mission. The crew reached the ISS approximately six months after Soyuz TM-30, the last mission to visit Mir. The transition marked the end of the Mir era and the establishment of the ISS as the primary international orbital outpost.
- The ISS's early modules served distinct operational functions. Zvezda, the principal Russian module, handled navigation and provided sleeping quarters; Destiny, the principal American module, served as a science laboratory; Zarya was used mainly for storage; and Unity connected the station's two sides. Canadarm 2 was another important early component, extending the station's robotic capabilities.
- The ISS introduced a new commercial dimension to human spaceflight through paid visits by private individuals. During Expedition 2, billionaire Dennis Tito paid $20 million to visit the station for eight days, becoming the first space tourist. The episode states that 12 additional space tourists subsequently visited the ISS, with the price at the time estimated at approximately $70 million per person.
- The next installment of the series was planned to cover the ISS's continued evolution, the Space Shuttle's eventual replacement and China's emergence as a third major spacefaring country. These topics were presented as the next stage in the chronology of human space exploration.