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STS-60 Discovery

In 1994 Sergei became the first Russian to fly on the Space Shuttle. This was his third space mission (first short-duration mission). He had trained as a pilot for the cancelled Buran Russian space shuttle, so this flight was a sort of consolation.

Mission data

STS-60 crew
Commander Charles Frank Bolden, Jnr.
Pilot Kenneth Stanley Reightler, Jnr.
Mission Specialist 1 Nancy Jan Davis
Mission Specialist 2 Ronald Michael Sega
Mission Specialist 3 Franklin Ramon Chang-Diaz
Mission Specialist 4 Sergei Konstantinovich Krikalyov (Russian Space Agency)
Flight details
Mission Wake Shield Facility-1; SPACEHAB-2
Orbiter Discovery, OV-103
Mission number STS-60 (60th Shuttle mission)
Launched 3 February 1994 at 12:10 UTC
Orbit Altitude 191 nautical miles/353.732 kilometers
Orbit Inclination 57°
Distance traveled 3.4 million miles/5 471 769.6 kilometers.
Launch site Pad 39-A, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Landed 11 February 1994 at 19:19:22 UTC
Landing site KSC on Runway 15
Rollout Distance 7771 feet/2368.6 meters
Rollout Time 50 seconds
Revolution 130
Duration 8d 7h 9m 22s

Notes

The 60th Space Shuttle mission and the 18th flight of Discovery. For the first time, a Russian cosmonaut flew aboard a U.S. space vehicle in a new era of international cooperation in space; this was the first joint U.S.-Russian flight since Apollo-Soyuz in 1975. The flight of Sergei K. Krikalyov was the first element in implementing the Agreement on NASA/Russian Space Agency Cooperation in Human Space Flight. Sergei was the first Russian since 1965 to reach space in a vehicle other than a Soyuz.

From the Shuttle-Mir oral history:

Sergei Krikalyov was the first cosmonaut to fly on an American Space Shuttle as part of the cooperative agreement between Russia and the United States.

The Space Shuttle Discovery launched February 3, 1994, with Krikalyov and the crew of STS-60. As a mission specialist, Krikalyov operated the shuttle’s robot arm and supported a wide variety of materials science experiments during the nine-day mission. Throughout the joint Shuttle-Mir program, he actively supported operations, working with ground controllers in mission controls at NASA Johnson Space Center and Russia.

Krikalyov endured an extremely challenging schedule in order to prepare for the historic STS-60 mission. In his Oral History, Travis Brice, NASA Johnson Space Center Russian Projects Office, shared a comment from the cosmonaut: “Sergei one time told me, ‘By the time I get through with all my studies for the classes that I have to take, I normally have the time period from about one o’clock to two o’clock in the morning to do my English language training.’ So that was the kind of schedule they were on. It was a very compressed schedule.”

In 1981, Krikalyov earned a mechanical engineering degree from Leningrad Mechanical Institute and became a cosmonaut in 1986. A veteran of four spaceflights, including two long-duration stays on Mir. He was also a mission specialist on STS-88, the first International Space Station assembly mission and is a member of the first crew scheduled to inhabit the International Space Station.

Sergei was seated in the Orbiter Middeck at ascent, and in the aft right seat on the Flight Deck during descent.

Sergei’s crew assignments – prime

  • Get-Away Special (GAS) Bridge experiments: CAPL/GBA
  • Spacehab experiments: SAMS, 3-DMA, BPL, IMMUNE,
  • Middeck experiments: SAREX-2
  • Joint U.S.-Russian medical investigations: DSO 204 (visual observations)
  • Other: inflight maintenance

Sergei’s crew assignments – backup

  • Wake Shield, Remote Manipulator System
  • Spacehab experiments: Spacehab systems, ASC-3
  • Middeck experiments: APE-B
  • Joint U.S.-Russian medical investigations: DSO 200 (radiological), DSO 201 (sensory)
  • Other responsibilities: Earth observations

Photo gallery

NASA

These NASA photos are from Sergei’s STS-60 mission, sent to me by Ed Hengeveld! (Originals are high-resolution.)

Sergei arrives at KSC for STS-60 launch training

“January 11, 1994: STS-60 mission specialist Sergei Krikalyov arrives at KSC’s Shuttle Landing Facility, along with the five other crewmembers, to participate in the Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test, a dress rehearsal for launch.”

R. Sega and S. Krikalev work on a joint U.S./Russian metabolic experiment

“Astronaut Ronald M. Sega (left) and Russian cosmonaut Sergei K. Krikalev work on a joint U.S./Russian metabolic experiment (DSO 202) on the Space Shuttle Discovery's middeck. Note the electrodes on Krikalev's face.”

Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev uses SAREX gear to talk to school children

“Cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev uses SAREX gear to talk to school children.”

Portrait of STS-60 crew in tunnel connecting Shuttle to SPACEHAB

“Portrait of STS-60 crew in tunnel connecting Shuttle to SPACEHAB.”

Sergei setting up biomedical samples in Spacehab

“February 1994: Russian cosmonaut Sergei Krikalyov seals up a set of biomedical samples in the Spacehab module aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery during the STS-60 mission.”

Unfortunately, the NASA STS-60 photos online are low-resolution and are thus not good quality.

  • STS-60 photos (select STS-60 from “Shuttle” pull-down menu): preflight and inflight. (These are stored in a dynamic database, so I can’t link directly to them.)
  • S93-40675: Official portrait of Sergei, taken on 6 August 1993 for the STS-60 flight – this is still used as a “current” photo in some biographies! (And here for the STS-88 mission – wonder why they didn’t take another one for that mission?)

NASA Image Exchange (NIX)

Shuttle-Mir Web

The NASA Shuttle-Mir Web also has a collection of STS-60 inflight photos (low-res only).

Quick links to the STS-60 inflight photos at Shuttle-Mir web (listed by serial number): 60p-002, 004, 005, 006, 007, 008, 009, 010, 011.

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Crew portraits

Official crew photos and patches.

STS-60 crew patch

STS-60 crew patch.

STS-60 crew (Loty Kosmiczne)

STS-60 crew. Clockwise from top left: R. Sega, S. Krikalyov, N. Davis, C. Bolden, K. Reightler, F. Chang-Diaz.