posted 04-23-2007 10:05 AM               

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On June 17, 1992 in Washington D.C., George Bush, the President of the United States, and Boris Yeltsin, President of the Russian Federation, signed the "Agreement between the United States of America and the Russian Federation Concerning Cooperation in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space for Peaceful Purposes." This agreement states that one of the areas of cooperation will include a "Space Shuttle and Mir Space Station mission involving the participation of U.S. astronauts and Russian Cosmonauts." At this Washington meeting the leaders further agreed to flight(s) of Russian cosmonauts on the Shuttle in 1993, flight of a U.S. astronaut on a long-duration mission on Mir in 1994, and a docking mission between the Shuttle and the Mir in 1995. This was the beginning of the Phase 1 (Mir/Shuttle) Program.

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Yeltsin also gave Baikonur, the site of all manned Russian launches, its name:

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Baikonur, formerly known as Leninsk, is a city within Kazakhstan, but it is rented and administered by Russia. It was constructed to service the Baikonur Cosmodrome and was officially renamed Baikonur by Boris Yeltsin on December 20, 1995.

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