Buck Rogers, or just big bucks?

Collision with a docking craft damages a solar array (pictured) and punctures the Spektr module

Even with Mir's high profile, the collapse of the Soviet Union left funding scarce; like many once-proud families met with trying times, Mir opened its door to boarders.

Weldon said the rent paid on Mir has amounted to a subsidy of the Russian space agency, at least in recent years. "In the beginning, I never would have made such a claim," he said. "But the reason that became a legitimate issue was because the Russian space program was getting no money at all, so suddenly the few U.S. dollars they were getting became the bulk of their budget."

"One of the most useful lessons that I've come away with is that it's very dangerous and risky to engage in a partnership like this with an international partner who is not a first world nation," said Weldon, who is vice chairman of the House Space and Aeronautics Committee.

And Weldon predicts more of the same in the immediate future. "I'm sure we're going to get involved in helping them to end the Mir program, and I anticipate further U.S. subsidies needed to get them to be able to fulfill their portions of the International Space Station," he said. "They're basically an economic basket case."

Navias insists NASA's use of Mir has been a good deal for both countries. "We have derived tremendous benefits from the Russians' capability of housing us on their facility so that we could do the research, do all the operational things that we've done over the past three years to become smarter about how we live and work in space," he said.

Weldon said that he would like to see a more complete report from NASA to the House science committee. "We did pay the Russians quite a bit of money to have our U.S. astronauts up there, and I'd like to be able to do a good cost-benefit analysis."

The lessons of Mir, the risks and benefits of long-term residence in space and of peaceful cooperation of erstwhile enemies, may ultimately be a dress rehearsal.

The scientific and engineering problems are being solved. The relationship between the former rivals in space has unquestionably gotten warmer, but remains complicated. Still, the U.S. and Russian space agencies remain committed to marrying their efforts in the International Space Station, for better or worse, for richer or poorer.

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