by Shannon Lucid (Author)
In 1996 Shannon Lucid, an American astronaut, spent six months, living and working on the Russian space station Mir Tumbleweed tells the fascinating story of preparing for this flight by living and training for a year in Star City, Russia, home of the Russian Cosmonauts. She launched on the space shuttle Discovery, February 22, 1996, to join the Russian Mir crew. The original plan was for her to spend four months on Mir, but due to shuttle technical difficulties, her stay was extended to six months. During this time, she participated in the arrival and activation of Priroda, the new module that contained the US science experiments, and then carried out the US science program. During her stay on Mir, two Russian supply vehicles, Progresses, arrived, five spacewalks were performed, a Soyuz, carrying a new Russian crew arrived and her original Russian crewmates departed. After 188 days, she returned to planet Earth on the space shuttle Atlantis.Tumbleweed provides vivid details living and working in a micro gravity environment for a long duration space flight.