/sci/ - Science & Math

>>10732685
Then you do not seem to have studied up much on the reasons behind the mission.

The US had an interest in keeping the Russian space program gong, and employing Russian rocket designers and technicians, who might otherwise seek employment elsewhere. Most elsewheres with the money were state the US would not have wanted to have big reliable rockets with a lot of payload capacity, reentry technology, etc.

NASA did what they could to resist the program, that was imposed on them from above. Once they agreed to take it on, they gave notoriously little support to the few astronauts willing to take on the mission.

NASA was all gearing up for Freedom/ISS, and saw Shuttle/Mir as a waste of time and resources. They also did not trust the Russians nor the aging Mir systems to keep their astronauts safe (and there were indeed a couple of scary incidents while Americans were aboard Mir.)

Pic related is a good general history of the project. The author over-dramatizes a bit, particularly by telling the story out of order for greater dramatic impact. But you can easily read the three sections in chronological order, and the information in the book is very useful if the subject interests you at all.

Pic related is a