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Priroda, fire and collision (1996–1997)

A view of the Travers RADAR antenna on the newly-launched Priroda module during STS-79.

1996 saw the beginning of the continuous US presence aboard Mir, with STS-76, launching on March 22, carrying the second Increment astronaut, Shannon Lucid, to the station. The third docking mission, which again used Space Shuttle Atlantis, demonstrated logistics capabilities with a Spacehab module, and placed experiment packages on Mir's docking module during the first docked spacewalk, as well as transferring Lucid to Mir for her stay. The spacewalks, carried out from Atlantis's crew cabin, provided experience for astronauts in order to prepare for later assembly missions to the International Space Station.

In a record-breaking stay, Lucid became the first American woman to live on station, and, following a six-week extension to her Increment due to issues with Shuttle Solid Rocket Boosters, her 188-day mission set the US single spaceflight record. During Lucid's time aboard Mir, the Priroda module, with about 2200 pounds of US science hardware, was docked to Mir. Lucid made use of both Priroda and Spektr to carry out 28 different science experiments and serve as the US living quarters.

Space Shuttle Atlantis docked to Mir during STS-81. The crew compartment, nose and a portion of the payload bay of Atlantis are visible, behind Mir's Kristall and Docking Modules.

Lucid's stay aboard the station finally came to a halt with the flight of Atlantis on STS-79, which launched on September 16, and was the first Shuttle mission to carry a double Spacehab module. During the mission, more than 4000 pounds of supplies were transferred to Mir, including water generated by Atlantis's fuel cells, and experiments including investigations into superconductors, cartilage development, and other biology studies. About 2000 pounds of experiment samples and equipment were also transferred back from Mir to Atlantis, making the total 6000 pound transfer the most extensive yet.

This, the fourth docking, also saw John Blaha transferring onto Mir to take his place as resident Increment astronaut, with his stay on the station improving operations in several areas, including transfer procedures for a docked space shuttle, "hand-over" procedures for long duration American crew members and "Ham" amateur radio communications.

During his time aboard the station, two spacewalks were carried out in order to remove electrical power connectors from a 12-year old solar power array on the base block and reconnect the cables to the more efficient new solar power arrays recently delivered to the station. In all, Blaha spent four months with the Mir-22 Cosmonaut crew conducting material science, fluid science, and life science research, before returning to Earth the next year aboard Atlantis on STS-81.

The year 1997 would prove to be an interesting one for the program, beginning with the first Shuttle flight for that year, STS-81, replacing Increment astronaut John Blaha with Jerry Linenger, after Blaha's 118-day stay aboard Mir. During this fifth docking of a shuttle, the crew of Atlantis moved supplies to the station and returned to Earth the first plants to complete a life cycle in space, a crop of wheat planted by Shannon Lucid. During five days of mated operations, the crews transferred nearly 6000 pounds of logistics to Mir, and transferred 2,400 pounds of materials back to Atlantis (the most materials transferred between the two spacecraft to that date).

The STS-81 crew also tested the Shuttle Treadmill Vibration Isolation and Stabilization System (TVIS), designed for use in the Zvezda module of the International Space Station. The shuttle's small vernier jet thrusters were also fired during the mated operations to gather engineering data for 'reboosting' the ISS. After undocking, Atlantis performed a fly-around of Mir, leaving Linenger aboard the station for the most eventful Increment to date.

A charred panel on board Mir following the fire.

During his Increment, Linenger became the first American to conduct a spacewalk from a foreign space station and in a non-American made spacesuit, performing the first test of the Russian-built Orlan-M spacesuit alongside Russian cosmonaut Vasili Tsibliyev. All three crewmembers of expedition EO-23 also performed a "fly-around" in the Soyuz spacecraft, first undocking from one docking port of the station, then manually flying to and redocking the capsule at a different location. This made Linenger the first American to undock from a space station aboard two different spacecraft (Space Shuttle and Soyuz).

However, the Increment did not go smoothly, with Linenger and his Russian crewmates Vasili Tsibliyev & Aleksandr Lazutkin facing several difficulties including the most severe fire ever aboard an orbiting spacecraft (caused by a backup oxygen-generating device), failures of various on board systems, a near collision with a Progress resupply cargo ship during a long-distance manual docking system test and a total loss of station electrical power and, as a result, attitude control, resulting in a slow, uncontrolled "tumble" through space.

Linenger was eventually succeeded by Anglo-American astronaut Michael Foale, carried up by Atlantis on STS-84, alongside Russian mission specialist Elena Kondakova. The STS-84 crew transferred 249 items between the two spacecraft, along with water, experiment samples, supplies and hardware. One of the first items transferred to Mir was an Elektron oxygen-generating unit, especially important after the fire that had occurred on February 23. In addition, during undocking on May 21, the crew stopped Atlantis three times while backing away, to collect data from a European sensor device designed for future rendezvous of ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) with the International Space Station.

Damaged solar arrays on Mir's Spektr module following a collision with an unmanned Progress spacecraft in September 1997.

Foale's Increment proceeded fairly normally until June 25, when during the second test of the Progress manual docking system, TORU, the resupply ship collided with solar arrays on the Spektr module and crashed into the module's outer shell, holing the module and causing a depressurisation of the station, the first ever on-orbit depressurisation in the history of spaceflight. Only quick actions on the part of the crew, cutting cables leading to the module and closing Spektr's hatch, prevented the crew abandoning the station in their Soyuz lifeboat. Their efforts stabilised the station's air pressure, whilst the pressure in Spektr, containing many of Foale's experiments and personal effects, dropped to a vacuum. Fortunately, food, water and other vital supplies were stored in other modules, and remarkable salvage and replanning effort by Foale and the science community maximized the scientific return.

In an effort to restore some of the power and systems lost following the isolation of Spektr and to attempt to locate the leak, Mir's new commander Anatoly Solovyev and flight engineer Pavel Vinogradov carried out a risky salvage operation later in the mission, entering the empty module during a so-called "IVA" spacewalk, inspecting the condition of hardware and running cables through a special hatch from Spektr's systems to the rest of the station. Following these first investigations, Foale and Solovyev conducted a 6-hour EVA on the surface of Spektr to inspect the damage to the punctured module.

After the disasters, the US Congress and NASA considered whether the US should abandon the program out of concern for astronauts' safety, but NASA administrator Daniel Goldin decided to continue the program, with the next flight, STS-86, bringing Increment astronaut David Wolf aboard Mir.

A view of Mir from Atlantis's window, showing several of the station's modules and the docked Soyuz capsule.

STS-86 performed the seventh Shuttle-Mir docking, the last of 1997. During Atlantis's stay crew members Titov and Parazynski conducted the first joint US-Russian extravehicular activity during a Shuttle mission, and the first in which a Russian wore a US spacesuit. During the 5-hour spacewalk on, the pair affixed a 121-pound Solar Array Cap to the Docking Module, for a future attempt by crew members to seal off the leak in Spektr's hull. The mission returned Foale to Earth, along with samples, hardware, and an old Elektron oxygen generator, and dropped Wolf off on the Station ready for his 128 day Increment. Wolf had originally been scheduled to be the final Mir astronaut, but was chosen to go on the Increment instead of astronaut Wendy Lawrence. Lawrence was deemed ineligible for flight due to a change in Russian requirements after the Progress supply vehicle collision. The new rules required that all Mir crew members should be trained and ready for spacewalks, but a Russian spacesuit suit could not be prepared for Lawrence in time for launch.

Phase One closes down (1998)

Space Shuttle Discovery lands at the end of STS-91, bringing the Shuttle-Mir program to a close.

The final year of Phase One began with the flight of Space Shuttle Endeavour on STS-89. The mission delivered Cosmonaut Salizhan Sharipov to Mir and replaced David Wolf with Andy Thomas, following Wolf's 119 day Increment.

During his Increment, the last of the program, Thomas worked on 27 science investigations the areas of advanced technology, Earth sciences, human life sciences, microgravity research, and ISS risk mitigation. His stay on Mir, considered the smoothest of the entire Phase One program, featured weekly "Letters from the Outpost" from Thomas and passed two milestones for length of spaceflight — 907 consecutive days in space by American astronauts since the launch of Shannon Lucid on the STS-76 mission in March 1996, and nearly 1000 days of occupancy by American astronauts dating back to Norman Thagard's trip to Mir in March 1995.

Thomas finally returned to Earth on the final Shuttle-Mir mission, STS-91. The mission closed out Phase One, with the EO-25 and STS-91 crews transferring water to Mir and exchanging almost 4700 pounds of cargo experiments and supplies between the two spacecraft. Long-term American experiments that had been on board Mir were also moved into Discovery, being stored within the shuttle's middeck lockers and Spacehab module. When the hatches closed for undocking at 9:07 a.m. EDT on June 8 and the spacecraft separated at 12:01 p.m. EDT that day, the final set of Shuttle-Mir docked operations was concluded and Phase One of the International Space Station program came to an end.

Phases Two & Three: ISS (1998–2010)

Mir's Legacy - The core modules of the International Space Station, Phase Two of the ISS program.

With the landing of Discovery on June 12, 1998, the Phase One program concluded. However, the techniques learned and equipment developed during the program would continue to assist in the development of space exploration with the beginning of Phase Two on November 20, 1998. That day saw the launch of a Russian Proton rocket carrying the first module of the International Space Station, the Zarya Functional Cargo Block. This first module of the ISS module provided electrical power, storage, propulsion, and guidance to the ISS during its initial stage of assembly, and provides the functional backbone to the station.

As of February 2008, the International Space Station consists of eight pressurised modules, three solar arrays & a large truss structure, and is already the largest spacecraft assembled in history. The arrival of the Destiny Laboratory Module in 2001 marked the end of Phase Two and the start of Phase Three, the final outfitting of the station, currently in progress. The completed station will consist of five laboratories and be able to support six crew members. With over 1,000 cubic metres (1,300 cu yd) of pressurised volume and a mass of 400,000 kilograms (882,000 lb) the completed station will be almost twice the size of the combined Shuttle-Mir spacecraft. Phases Two & Three are intended to continue both international cooperation in space and zero-gravity scientific research, particularly regarding long-duration spaceflight. The results of this research will provide considerable information for long-duration expeditions to the Moon and flights to Mars.

Following the intentional deorbiting of Mir on March 23 2001, the ISS became the only space station currently in orbit around Earth. Mir's legacy lives on in the station, bringing together five space agencies in the cause of exploration and allowing those space agencies to prepare for their next leap into space, to the Moon, Mars and beyond.