Aug 19 1996
From The Space Library
The Russian Soyuz TM-24, which launched on 17 August, arrived at Mir, carrying France's first female astronaut, Claudie Andre-Deshays. Andre-Deshays, a rheumatologist, joined Russian cosmonauts Valery G. Korzun and Alexander Y. Kaleri on the flight from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. She planned to study the effects of weightlessness on the human body during her stay aboard Mir. The crew of Soyuz joined Shannon W. Lucid, the American astronaut who had been aboard the Russian space station since March. Reporting the safe arrival of Andre-Deshays at Mir, the head of France's space program also announced that France would likely end its short-term space missions conducted aboard Russian vehicles. France intended to focus on longer, less frequent missions, facilitating more detailed research programs. The change in policy went into effect immediately, with France canceling two French-Russian missions planned for 1998 and 1999.
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31
