 The first Space Shuttle flight to Mir was an rendezvous mission without docking on STS-63. This was followed during the course of the project by a total of 9 Shuttle-Mir docking missions, from STS-71 to STS-91. The Shuttle rotated crews and delivered supplies, and one mission, STS-74, carried a docking module and a pair of solar arrays to Mir. Various scientific experiments were also conducted, both on shuttle flights and long-term aboard the station. The project also saw the launch of two new modules, Spektr and Priroda, to Mir, which were used by American astronauts as living quarters and laboratories to conduct the majority of their science aboard the station. These missions allowed NASA and the Russian Federal Space Agency to learn a great deal about how best to work with international partners in space and how to minimize the risks associated with assembling a large space station in orbit, as would have to be done with the ISS.
