PBS Launches Episode 2 on Mir's 1997 Crisis as Michael Foale Recalls 23-Minute Oxygen Ordeal
Updated
Updated · Space.com · Jul 25
PBS Launches Episode 2 on Mir's 1997 Crisis as Michael Foale Recalls 23-Minute Oxygen Ordeal
2 articles · Updated · Space.com · Jul 25
Summary
PBS released the second “Once Upon a Time in Space” episode, “The Russian Thing,” centering on the 1997 Mir collision that left Michael Foale and two cosmonauts scrambling to save the station.
Foale says the crisis began when a Progress cargo ship, attempting a manual docking from about 6 kilometers without radar, struck Mir’s Spektr module and triggered a dangerous decompression.
With 23 minutes of oxygen left, Foale, Vasily Tsibliev and Alexander Lazutkin sealed off the damage and stabilized the station; Foale blamed a cost-cutting decision to avoid paying $2 million for Ukrainian radar.
The 4-part PBS series from filmmaker James Bluemel traces human spaceflight through firsthand accounts, with the final two episodes scheduled for July 28 and Aug. 4.