WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

Astronaut Bill Shepherd, commander of the first crew of the International Space Station, dons a Russian pressure suit as part of his training recently at the Gagarin Cosmonaut Training Center, Russia. Shepherd, Soyuz Commander cosmonaut Yuri Gidzenko and Flight Engineer cosmonaut Sergei Krikalev will be launched aboard a Russian Soyuz spacecraft in late January 1999 to begin the first human habitation of the station. They will spend five months aboard the new station, and assist with assembly and checkout of systems onboard that will include three visiting Space Shuttles. During the crew's stay, the station will be outfitted with the first U.S. solar arrays, the U.S. laboratory module and the Canadian Space Station Remote Manipulator System mechanical arm. Shepherd's crew will begin a permanent human presence on the International Space Station. The crew began training for the mission in late 1996.