When the Mir orbiter was launched in February 1986, Soviet officials announced that it would eventually become the first permanently manned space station. Last week the Soviets moved a big step closer to that milestone. As part of the first complete crew change aboard the spacelab, three cosmonauts docked their Soyuz TM-4 craft with Mir, which had been occupied by a team of two since March 14, 1986.
The old crew is scheduled to return to earth New Year's Eve along with last week's third space traveler, a scientist on a short-term mission. By then Commander Yuri Romanenko will have spent...
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