Word: progressiveness
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...weeks earlier, before Foale replaced astronaut Jerry Linenger aboard Mir, the TV camera had quit at the last minute in a practice run, and Tsibliyev--one of the space agency's best pure pilots--had narrowly averted disaster. Now, with Foale onboard, the TV system once again operating and Progress stabilized several miles away, ground control ordered Tsibliyev to try the same exercise again. "This is a bad business, Sasha," Tsibliyev said to Lazutkin as he picked at his food...
...Foale and Lazutkin too, the day would be a busy one. Bringing Progress in for a dead-reckoning docking would take the cooperation of all three crewmen. Tsibliyev would be at the helm in the core module, watching the monitor and operating the joysticks as the vessel approached. Lazutkin would be behind him, peering out a nearby window to call out the spacecraft's coordinates. Foale would be dispatched to the station's most distant module, the Kvant, where the unmanned ship would actually dock. Shining a laser range finder out the stern porthole, he would measure Progress's distance...
JUNE 25, NOON Tsibliyev could always count on Lazutkin. When Sasha told you a piece of equipment was going to work, it usually did. Shortly before midday, the Mir crew gathered in the main module, and Tsibliyev sent a command to the Progress vehicle, instructing it to open its electronic-eye camera and train its gaze on the station. The camera responded, and moments later, the TV monitor, as promised, flickered to life. Tsibliyev and Lazutkin seemed pleased; Foale was decidedly less...
Foale reckoned wrong. When Progress was little more than 3,500 ft. away, Tsibliyev noticed the solar panels growing faster than they should. Saying nothing, he hit his joysticks hard, applying a propulsive brake. Progress kept coming. He hit the sticks again. The ship sped on. "Michael," Tsibliyev said to Foale, "try getting a range mark...
Nothing happening at the windows, however, did not mean nothing happening on the screen. Following Tsibliyev's now worried gaze, both Lazutkin and Foale could see that the station had all at once become huge, practically filling the screen at a distance of barely 150 ft. from Progress. "Try to get another range!" Tsibliyev shouted to both crewmen. As Foale sped toward Kvant, Lazutkin looked out his window and froze. There, at last, seemingly at arm's length, was the fast-closing Progress. "There it is already!" he shouted...