linking_shuttle

LINKING THE SPACE SHUTTLE AND SPACE STATIONS

Early Docking Technologies from Concept to Implementation

with Foreword by Robert L. 'Hoot' Gibson

former NASA astronaut

and Afterword by Jean-Francoise Clervoy

ESA astronaut

Discusses the development of Shuttle operations in relation to early space stations.

Offers an explanation of how plans were created to fly Space Shuttles with the Soviet Salyut, American Skylab and Freedom and to the Russian Mir space stations.

Explains the concept of utilizing the Space Shuttle design to assemble and resupply large space stations. Includes first-hand interviews with those involved with the program.

Discusses revealing documents from the archives of NASA on how the agency planned for docking a Shuttle to a Soviet space station.

How could the newly authorized Space Shuttle help in the U.S. quest to build a large research station in Earth orbit? As a means of transporting goods, the Shuttle could help supply the parts to the station. But how would the two entities be physically linked?

Docking technologies had to constantly evolve as the designs of the early space stations changed. It was hoped the Shuttle would make missions to the Russian Salyut and American Skylab stations, but these were postponed until the Mir station became available, while plans for getting a new U.S. space station underway were stalled.

In Linking the Space Shuttle and Space Stations, the author delves into the rich history of the Space Shuttle and its connection to these early space stations, culminating in the nine missions to dock the Shuttle to Mir. By 1998, after nearly three decades of planning and operations, Shuttle missions to Mir had resulted in:

A proven system to link up the Space Shuttle to a space station.
Equipment and hands-on experience in handling tons of materials.
An infrastructure to support space station assembly and resupply.

Each of these played a pivotal role in developing the skills and procedures crucial to the creation of the later, much larger and far more complex International Space Station, as described in the companion volume Assembling and Supplying the ISS: The Space Shuttle Fulfills its Mission.