Bird? Plane? Spacestation?

Perhaps one night you have gone out to look at the night sky and have noticed a light appear to move across the sky and wondered what it was. You probable knew it wasn't an airplane and so, (assuming you are not one to jump to a UFO conclusion), you might have assumed that it must be a man-made satellite in orbit around the Earth. If you did, you were almost certainly right.

In this age of technology and communication there are lots of man- made satellites in orbit around our planet. Some monitor weather, some relay all kinds of communications. Sometimes you might even see the Space Shuttle, though the shuttle is not often in an orbit that allows us to view it. Yet another thing in orbit around Earth that you might notice, and one of the brightest, is Mir, the Russian Space Station.

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Mir space station, (Mir means world), and quite a few exciting things will be happening at Mir in the near future. Originally begun as a single orbiting module in 1986, Mir has grown in size with add on modules that have made it quite impressive; it is now often referred to as the `Mir Complex.' The original core was 15 meters by 4.1 meters. Then in 1987 an astrophysics module was added. Additional modules were launched in 1989 and 1990.

Then in 1993 an agreement between the Russian Space Agency and NASA worked out a series of cooperative flights. To accomplish this, the Russian Space Agency and NASA had to work together to modify Mir to accommodate the shuttle, and to modify one shuttle craft to dock with Mir. Currently, that shuttle is Atlantis, but plans are underway to modify and upgrade all the shuttles. As part of the agreement, an astronaut exchange program also is taking place. This has seen American astronauts on board Mir, and Russian cosmonauts riding the shuttle.

In June of 1995, Atlantis docked with Mir for the first time. In November of the same year, Atlantis again docked with Mir. This time the shuttle brought an improved docking adapter to Mir. The next shuttle/Mir encounter is scheduled for March 21st 1996. Five additional shuttle flights are scheduled through 1997 that involve docking with Mir, and crew exchange.

All this cooperation is important. While NASA has more experience with space shuttles, clearly the Russians have more experience with space stations. The Russians have constantly manned Mir, with crews staying up to one year. This lengthy stay in space will be vital for manned missions to Mars and beyond.

Plans are also underway for the construction of an International Space Station in 1997 and our experiences with Mir will provide valuable information to be used with the new project. During the joint Mir/shuttle missions, we will try out solar panels and other instrumentation, all to be used on the International Station later. We will also be gaining firsthand knowledge of living in space for lengthy periods. Prior to Mir, US astronauts had only stayed in space for a few weeks at a time. The astronauts will stay on Mir for about 6 months.

At times, it is possible to see some of this activity such as the arrival or departure of Soyuz-TM or Progress-M vehicles or a newly arriving module. Mir is visible in cycles appearing in the evening sky for a couple of weeks, drowned out in daylight for a couple of weeks, then appearing in morning skies before dawn, elclipsed and finally re- appearing in the evening sky. When Mir is visible, it is very bright, as bright, and sometimes brighter than the star Sirius. Binoculars will even show a bit of bronze yellow color.

Constellations

The Solar System