Eagle, I don't want to form an alliance anymore.

Ultimately, the Soviet Union, as the infrastructure provider, retained sovereignty and ultimate jurisdiction over the new space station. However, it made concessions regarding usage rights: the Soviet Union held 60%, while international partners collectively held 40%. Of this 40%, European Space Agency member states received 25%, and China and other non-Warsaw Pact countries shared the remaining 15%.

Europe is too rich. France, West Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands, Austria, Switzerland, Norway, Denmark, and Spain pooled their money and said they would bring 25 billion rubles to join. As long as the Soviet core module was successfully launched and connected to the old Mir space station, the European Space Agency would send people to space to inspect it. If the space station was fine, they would give the Soviet Union 10 billion rubles upfront, and the rest would be deposited into the account as the Soviet Union launched other modules.

According to Semyonov's previous budget, the total cost of the Soviet Union's new space station from project initiation to completion was approximately 55-60 billion rubles. Europe paid 25 billion rubles to the Soviet Union, while the Soviet Union paid for the construction and launch of its own modules, making a huge profit!

Regarding the right to use the space station, this is specifically reflected in the allocation of time for experimental workstations, the allocation of astronauts stationed on the station, and the sharing ratio of Earth observation data.

As for the Columbus module, which has already been completed in Europe, although it is docked to the Soviet space station, it is legally the property of the ESA. The ESA has full jurisdiction over activities inside the module, and astronauts from other countries are not allowed to enter the module without ESA authorization.

In exchange for docking and on-orbit support, ESA paid the Soviet Union a substantial "infrastructure usage fee" each year.

Regarding the launch of the European segment, if the Columbus module is launched using a Soviet rocket, the launch cost will be borne by ESA at commercial rates. If it is launched using Ariane 5, the docking operation will be controlled by the Soviet side.

The discussions lasted intermittently over two days. Ultimately, a consensus was reached on the framework for the distribution of benefits, which was acceptable to all parties.

After the space program was nearly finished, Semyonov played another card.

"Gentlemen, I have a suggestion—we plan to add a satellite navigation platform to the space station later. Are you interested?"

The representatives from the European companies were watching him. Semyonov's team distributed the technical briefing to everyone.

The briefing is titled: GLONASS Global Navigation Satellite System – Status, Capabilities and Prospects for International Cooperation.

The GLONASS global navigation satellite system was developed by the Soviet Union starting in the 1970s. Like the US GPS, it uses satellites to provide precise positioning for people and equipment on the ground.

The US GPS system was maturing at this time. The first Block I satellite was launched in 1978, and by 1989 a number of satellites were already in orbit, with the system moving towards full operational capability.

The U.S. military is the primary user and controller of GPS. The precise GPS signal is controlled by the U.S. military, while the accuracy of the civilian signal has been deliberately reduced.

"Are you willing to forever rely on a system controlled by others to locate your own aircraft, your own ships, and your own military? We are willing to establish a joint venture navigation company in Switzerland, where everyone has control over the system."

Semyonov brought over the Soviet proposal:

The Soviet Union had GLONASS, but the system was not yet perfect—the number of satellites was insufficient, the accuracy was not as good as GPS, and the ground control segment needed to be upgraded. The Soviet Union could produce its existing satellite constellation, rockets, and orbital tracking and control infrastructure.

The Soviet Union lacked precision equipment. The cesium atomic clocks still in use today are far less accurate than the hydrogen Maizer atomic clocks in Europe. Europe was also better than the Soviet Union in terms of the reliability of spaceborne electronic equipment and the microelectronics technology of user terminals.

The GLONASS satellites launched by the Soviet Union have very short lifespans. Only with new technologies this year have the lifespan of satellites been barely increased from 1 year to 3 years. However, if Europe is willing to provide the core technology, the Soviet Union is willing to relinquish some control of the system.

Europe's current problem is that they don't have their own navigation satellite system—not a single one. Developing its own navigation system from scratch would require over a decade and tens of billions of dollars in investment. However, if they cooperate with the Soviet Union to improve upon GLONASS, they wouldn't have to start from scratch—the Soviet Union would provide the satellite orbiters and rockets, while Europe would provide the precision electronics and atomic clocks. Together, they could upgrade GLONASS from a usable but inadequate system into a global navigation system that could directly compete with GPS and be independent of the United States!

Satellite navigation systems have a wide range of applications.

Ocean-going vessel navigation, port entry and exit guidance, fishing vessel positioning, maritime search and rescue... Europe boasts some of the world's busiest shipping lanes, and accurate navigation in the English Channel, the Strait of Gibraltar, and the North Sea is directly related to shipping safety and insurance rates. The Soviet Union's merchant and fishing fleets were among GLONASS's initial civilian users.

In civil aviation, precision approach and landing systems can guide aircraft to land in low-visibility conditions, reducing flight delays and cancellations. With extremely high airport density in Europe, especially in foggy Northern Europe and the UK, this application has direct economic value. The International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) began discussing the standardization of satellite navigation for civil aviation in the late 80s, and the Soviet Union went so far as to propose the concept of a GLONASS-GPS dual-mode receiver.

This would allow the international civil aviation industry to use both GPS and GLONASS simultaneously.

In railway transportation, the Soviet Union had a great need for satellite positioning, as train positioning and dispatching were crucial to operational efficiency. The Soviet Union possessed the world's longest railway system, making railway navigation a natural common requirement.

There are also applications such as land surveying, time synchronization services, precise time bases required for power grid synchronization, financial transactions, and telecommunications digital communication systems...

Its strategic significance to the Soviet Union was immense; if Europe were willing to cooperate with the Soviet Union in this regard, this system could more closely link the European economies together.

The first step in standardizing writing and cart tracks began here.

Regarding security, the Soviet military had previously expressed its objections, but after discussions, the Soviet military was granted full access to certain military satellites in the GLONASS network, which Europeans were not authorized to use.

In other words, civilian satellites in the navigation network were shared by everyone, while the Soviet military had exclusive control over the military satellites.

This shows much more sincerity than what the Americans have shown!

The French were the first to agree, followed closely by the Germans, and Italy and other countries also expressed their willingness to cooperate.

The navigation company headquarters, after the collaboration, was located in Switzerland. Western companies were unwilling to join a company registered in the Soviet Union, and the Soviet Union was wary of companies registered in France or Germany. Switzerland was a place acceptable to both sides. This Swiss company would become the commercial operating entity for GLONASS's upgrade and transformation—managing the broadcasting of civilian navigation signals, managing user access in various countries, and managing commercial revenue.

The parties then discussed the details, and spent several days discussing and outlining the framework for issues such as the investment ratio, board composition, technology transfer boundaries, and openness strategy for civilian signals.

Europe is truly no longer planning to play the space game with the Americans.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

On May 21, representatives from 11 countries, including the Soviet Union, France, Germany, and Italy, sat down at a long table in the Kremlin and signed a memorandum of understanding.

After the memorandum was signed, Mitterrand left Moscow with his business and space delegations. He got what he wanted on this trip, but Slava got even more.

He gained access to the best pharmaceutical and agricultural technologies in Europe, secured international partners for the space station and their substantial funding, and obtained an upgrade path for a global satellite navigation system independent of the United States—with this system, the Soviet Union and Europe would no longer have to rely on Washington for navigation and positioning.

Europe will be more closely tied to the Soviet Union!

Every collaboration closely tied European interests to the Soviet Union, and as future collaborations became more numerous and closer, it became increasingly difficult for Europe to decouple from the Soviet Union.

Slava knew that allies gained solely through force and political loyalty were unreliable; the key was the cohesion brought about by economic integration. In the distant future, the moment the United States withdrew from the Cold War and NATO disbanded would be the moment the Soviet Union began its expansion into Western Europe!

Chapter 109 The Dawn of Humanity's Space Age

With the agreement signed, in order to make this historically significant event known to the whole world, we need to ensure that countries around the globe can support us financially, show their support by showing their presence if they can't afford it, or simply visit us to make it happen.

The Soviet Union narrowly lost to the Americans in the first space race, and this time the Soviet Union must win!

This time, the balance of power has shifted. The Soviet Union is no longer alone; it has its European and Chinese allies providing it with everything it needs—technology, capital, manufacturing...

In the preparatory phase of the space race, the Soviet Union lacked nothing.

Rockets don't wait for diplomats. In July 1989, a Proton rocket launched the Quantum 2 module into orbit. Seven days later, it docked automatically with the Mir space station as planned. Engineers at ground control checked telemetry data to confirm the lock was secure; there were no celebrations—they'd done this far too many times.

The Proton spacecraft can launch its modules, and the modules will fly over and dock themselves. The whole process has been running smoothly since the Salute era, and it can be done with our eyes closed now!

In December 1989, the Crystal module was launched.

This is the last module of the Mir space station program. Originally, Spectroradio and Nature were scheduled to follow, but the space agency's focus was no longer on Mir—the design blueprints for the International Space Station would take up about five or six train cars to build, so the manufacturing tasks for Spectroradio and Nature were directly incorporated into the new project.

No one regretted it. The Mir was a transitional plan from the beginning. The four four-section modules were hung in a cross shape on the spherical transfer module. The experimental equipment that could be put in was already full, and there was no place to plug in any more things.

Project Mir has officially ended.

From Warsaw to Beijing, from Moscow to Paris, a total of 13 countries have joined the project with their own funding, and the largest space cooperation project in human history has officially begun its launch.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

In September 1990, news came from Turin: the Italians had completed the living quarters of the Unity.

This living quarters, specifically designed for European astronauts, can accommodate five people and includes space for storing supplies. The Italians put considerable effort into the interior design; according to newspapers, each bunk has its own soundproof curtain and reading light—a stark contrast to the Soviet style on the Mir, where submariners would be moved to tears by simply hanging people in sleeping bags.

As for which direction a reading lamp should be installed in a microgravity environment to qualify as "bedside," that's a topic for another time.

In December, the French-built Columbus scientific module completed its refit. Originally designed to European Space Agency standards, the module now had to be connected to Soviet interfaces.

French engineers spent more than half a year redesigning the entire docking face. They also needed to standardize various cable interfaces with the Soviet side. The Soviets were not allowed to enter the Columbus module without permission, but the equipment power supply and some data interfaces of the Columbus module all had to be connected to the Soviet core module!

In February 1991, the China National Space Administration was established, and China announced the 912 Plan, restarting the manned space program that had been abandoned in 1975. It also began selecting astronauts to go to the Soviet Union for training and preparing for agricultural cooperation.

In July 1991, two modules also rolled off the production line in the Soviet Union. The Zarya cargo module was manufactured in cooperation with Italy and will serve as a berth for the space shuttle and other spacecraft. The Italians also designed an additional airlock, "Seeker," to provide a place for astronauts to put on their spacesuits before extravehicular activities.

Before the Seeker spacecraft was docked to the space station, Soviet cosmonauts could only wear their spacesuits inside the core module of the space station, or on the space shuttle if it was docked.

Regarding the Soviet-made living quarters on the Soyuz, they were much simpler than those on the Italian ships. The five-person berths next door were for eight people, and each person's bunk was a bit narrower than on the Soyuz, but they were equipped with reading lights and personal storage boxes, making them no less functional than the Italian ones.

The only problem is that the bunk beds don't look very nice; they look like stacked coffins.

In December 1991, the China National Space Administration officially joined the International Space Station project, and China began cooperating with the Soviet Union to build the agricultural module.

On April 12, 1992, the Soviet Union launched the core module of the International Space Station.

The choice of this date was no coincidence—on this day 31 years ago, Yuri Gagarin, the first Soviet cosmonaut, went into space.

On the Baikonur Cosmodrome stands the Energia Super Heavy rocket, powered by eight RD-170 engines—four liquid hydrogen-liquid oxygen main engines and four boosters—with a total thrust exceeding 20 million Newtons. The cargo bay on the rocket's back houses the Zvezda core module, the core component of the International Space Station; all other modules ultimately connect to it.

The acceptance of the Zvezda spacecraft took four months longer than expected, mainly due to redundancy testing of the life support system—the core module's environmental control system had to simultaneously support atmospheric circulation for more than a dozen modules, and any valve that failed to meet sealing standards had to be sent back for a complete overhaul. By the time it finally passed the final hurdle, only three days remained in the weather window for Baikonur.

The launch took place at 9:23 a.m. Moscow time.

In the few seconds it took for Energia to lift its more than two thousand tons of weight off the launch pad, the ground within a radius of thirty kilometers trembled. No one spoke in the control room; everyone stared at the fluctuating numbers on the telemetry screens, waiting for the booster to separate.

The boosters separated, the fairing was jettisoned, the main engines were shut down, and the Zvezda spacecraft entered its designated orbit.

Another day passed, and the Starship successfully docked with the Mir. It was inserted vertically above the intersection of the Mir's cruciform structure, and from a distance, it looked like a thick chimney growing on the roof.

The two astronauts working on Mir opened the hatch and floated into Zvezda.

It's all empty here.

The extra four months spent on the acceptance of the core module were not a waste of time. The Soviet Union placed great emphasis on modular design, requiring that all large equipment in the core module be replaceable and repairable, leaving room for future upgrades.

The core module, as seen by the astronauts from Mir, looked rather unsightly. Its inner walls were still densely packed with equipment installation interfaces and cable trays. Apart from the central computer, life support system, and power cabling system, which had already been installed, all the other large equipment needed for the core module—environmental control units, power distribution cabinets, communication relay racks—was piled up on the ground, waiting for Buran to transport it.

There's nothing here right now. Since the solar panels and power module haven't been delivered yet, Mir is currently providing power to the core module, and the sound of the air pumps hums and echoes in the empty cabin.

The two astronauts sighed upon seeing this, thinking they had been delivered a fully furnished apartment, only to find they had to assemble it themselves! Floating in the center of the module, the two checked the sealing and power supply status item by item on the checklist.

In June 1992, the Soyuz habitation module was launched by a Proton rocket, docked automatically, and everything proceeded smoothly.

The Soyuz habitation module was attached to the rear of the Zvezda core module. The astronauts passed through the core module from Mir and floated into the Soyuz habitation module, first putting their familiar sleeping bags into their bunks, and then gradually packing and moving their belongings.

The Mir has lived here long enough over the years; even a small new place is still a new place.

August 1992 was a month for Europeans.

The Zarya cargo module and the Unity habitation module launched from Europe and radially docked at the aft end of the Unity habitation module. This marked the first time a non-Soviet-made module had been docked at the space station. The aft end of the Zarya cargo module had a reserved docking port, which would serve as a berth for the space shuttle and other visiting spacecraft.

In September, the Soviet-French joint power module Origin and the Italian airlock module Seeker were successfully launched and docked on the Soyuz axial position. Origin arrived with the base structure for the solar panels, but the solar panels themselves had not yet been installed.

Now it's Blizzard's turn.

In October 1992, the Buran space shuttle took off again after a four-year hiatus, carrying six solar panels, two heat dissipation systems, and a robotic arm made in Germany in its cargo bay.

This robotic arm was jointly manufactured by East and West Germany. Although the Berlin Wall had not yet fallen, engineers from both sides had successfully gotten to work on the same blueprints. The robotic arm has a span of 17 meters, a maximum grasping mass of 25 tons, and can move slowly along the axis of the space station. It also has a work platform at its end, allowing astronauts to stand on it and free their hands to operate and install the equipment.

The total cargo weighed 27 tons, which was just enough for the Buran's cargo hold.

Three astronauts went up on the same day, one of whom was Frenchman Chrétien. He should have gone up last year, but the Columbus refit was delayed for an extra year.

Chrétien flew on the Soyuz twice, but this was his first time on a space shuttle. He reportedly spent a lot of time touching things in his seat and finally commented that "this plane is more spacious than the Soyuz, but the landing is not as exciting as the Soyuz."

The next month will be purely physical labor.

The astronauts operated the robotic arm outside the cargo bay to lift the solar panels from their berth and move them to the base of the Genius power module. In the vacuum, the astronauts tightened bolts, connected cables, and unfolded the folded solar panel panels.

Each set of solar panels, once unfolded, is over ten meters long, resembling golden wings in the sunlight. After all four sets are installed, the radiators are added, and finally, the robotic arm's own tracks are installed—laying the rails upon which it moves onto the outer wall of the space station.

This was the only large-scale extravehicular assembly operation during the entire construction of the International Space Station.

The solar panels and numerous truss structures lack their own engines and docking mechanisms, making autonomous flight impossible. Therefore, they can only be transported up into the cargo bay of the space shuttle and then loaded onto the shuttle using robotic arms and human hands.

The Proton can't do this job, and the Soyuz is even less capable; only the Blizzard can.

But this will be the only time. Once the solar panels are installed, the radiators are in place, and the robotic arm is calibrated, the Buran's mission will essentially be over.

The subsequent module docking all went back to the old method—the rocket would launch and then dock automatically.

Now the Soviet Union is gradually realizing that the space shuttle seems to have been pretty useless.

The Soviet space agency did the math and concluded that launching Soyuz/Progress spacecraft with conventional rockets was far more cost-effective than launching Buran spacecraft for the space station's routine missions.

The Buran spacecraft is an extremely complex system. Each launch requires the Energia Super Heavy rocket, and the propellant and hardware consumption alone is astronomical. The estimated cost of a single launch of the entire Energia-Buran system is in the hundreds of millions of rubles, while the cost of launching a conventional spacecraft using a rocket is one to two orders of magnitude lower.

Some scientists say that the true value of the Buran spacecraft lies in transporting large modules and equipment for space station assembly, carrying out missions that require bringing large cargo back to Earth, and maintaining large equipment in orbit—things that smaller spacecraft cannot do.

Counterarguments suggest that large modules can be launched and docked autonomously using rockets, and that using conventional rockets to launch personnel would cost an order of magnitude less than the Buran!

Yes, the Blizzard's cargo bay can indeed send 30 tons of supplies into low Earth orbit and bring 15-20 tons of supplies back to Earth from orbit. This size is quite considerable—it can basically fit an entire space station module.

But there's no need. You could just launch the module directly onto the space station with a rocket. Why go through the trouble of having the space shuttle carry it? The Buran can't possibly lift a module hundreds of kilometers into orbit and move it to the space station; its propulsion system isn't that powerful.

What kind of object, weighing over ten tons, did the Soviet Union need to send back to Earth from space using the space shuttle?

A damaged satellite? Theoretically, yes, but in practice, satellite repairs are almost always done in orbit because the total cost of bringing it back to Earth, repairing it, and then launching it again far exceeds the cost of building a new one. The number of missions in the history of the US Space Shuttle that actually recovered satellites is very small, and NASA itself later admitted that these missions were very uneconomical.

Scientific experimental samples? Yes, they do need to be recovered, but scientific samples usually weigh only a few kilograms to a few hundred kilograms. A return capsule with a braking system can be dropped from space, and it can brake itself and land safely. There is no need for a 15-ton recovery capacity!

Space station debris? Just throw it into the atmosphere and burn it up; nobody needs to bring space junk back to Earth.

The Buran space shuttle was created because of Soviet military needs. Its project logic was not "we need a space shuttle", but rather "the Americans built the space shuttle, and we must figure out what they want to do and then build something equivalent".

In the 70s, the Soviet military conducted extensive analysis of the U.S. space shuttle and concluded that the space shuttle's design parameters, especially its enormous lateral maneuverability and cargo bay size, could not be explained by civilian aerospace principles!

The only plausible explanation is that the Americans intended to use it for military missions—to capture Soviet satellites from orbit, drop nuclear warheads and land them back on the mainland within a lap, or rapidly deploy military payloads.

This assessment is actually reasonable, because many of the design specifications for the US space shuttle were indeed imposed by the Air Force. However, the Soviet Union's response—to build an exact replica—was itself a form of strategic inertia.

I don't know what you're going to use it for, but if you have it, I have to have it too.

The consensus within the Soviet space agency over the past two years has been that the Buran spacecraft is quickly becoming a typical vanity project—its technology is impressive, but there are no clear mission requirements to support its operating costs! What are all these machines actually used for after they've been built?

If the answer is to build a space station, okay, then what happens after it's built?

Maintaining a space shuttle fleet is extremely expensive – ground maintenance teams, launch facilities, pre-flight maintenance cycles... If that money were invested in improvements to the Soyuz manned spacecraft and the Progress cargo ship, it could have enabled a dozen or twenty flights!